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European Edition
6th December 2021
 
THE HOT STORY
Banks fined over 'Sterling Lads' forex cartel
Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and NatWest have been fined a total of €344m ($390m) by EU antitrust regulators for foreign exchange market rigging. UBS swerved a €94m fine by alerting the European Commission to the cartel, which was set up via a chatroom known as "Sterling Lads." HSBC was fined €174.3m, Credit Suisse’s fine was set at €83.3m, Barclays at €54.3m and RBS at €32.5m. NatWest said the misconduct took place about a decade ago in a single chatroom and involved a former employee, and since then its culture and controls had fundamentally changed. “Our cartel decisions . . . send a clear message that the Commission remains committed to ensure a sound and competitive financial sector that is essential for investment and growth,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said, adding "The collusive behaviour of the five banks undermined the integrity of the financial sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers.” The information exchanges enabled the traders "to make informed market decisions on whether and when to sell or buy the currencies they had in their portfolios, as opposed to a situation where traders acting independently from each other take an inherent risk in taking these decisions," the Commission said.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Omicron ruins Europe’s Christmas party plans
Employers in Europe are scaling back their Christmas party plans amid fears that the Omicron variant could turbocharge a fifth wave of infections across the Continent. A corporate Christmas party in the Norwegian capital Oslo has resulted in at least 13 infections, making it the biggest outbreak outside of South Africa, officials said. "Are companies willing to take responsibility for the welfare of their employees or do they think the risk is acceptable?" said one manager at a consultancy in London. Deutsche Bank has told its London staff they can hold small gatherings at the individual team level, with a negative lateral flow test required. Asset manager Schroders has also asked guests to take rapid tests before attending particular festive events in London. German hospitality body Dehoga estimates nearly half of Christmas parties have been called off so far.
Return to office plans clash with virus uncertainty
Writing for Bloomberg, Matthew Boyle and Jeff Green say plans for new year office returns are colliding with rising virus cases and uncertainty about a new variant, and how managers proceed may further erode already diminished levels of trust between workers and bosses. Nearly half of executives want to work from the office every day, but just 17% of employees do, according to an ongoing poll of more than 10,500 office workers in six countries by the Future Forum, a research consortium. Mark Royal, a senior director at consultancy Korn Ferry Advisory, observes: “The question . . . isn’t whether we should ever be back in the office—but should we be back now?”
HIRING
Temporary staffing start-up valued at $2.4bn
Madrid-headquartered temporary staffing start-up Jobandtalent has raised $500m to expand its workforce marketplace that matches individuals with temporary roles. The company helps more than 1,300 organisations including FedEx and eBay find temporary staff at a time when demand for such workers is growing amid tightening labour markets worldwide. “We are in a situation where we can see a shortage of supply for workers in all of the countries where we operate,” said Juan Urdiales, Jobandtalent chief executive officer and co-founder.  “In that context the demand from the companies for products like the one that we're offering has heavily increased.” The latest financing round gives the company a $2.35bn valuation, according to a statement shared with Bloomberg.
Hedge funds wage pandemic battle for talent
Multi-manager funds are driving traders’ compensation sky-high after thriving during the coronavirus crisis, unleashing a fierce battle for talent. Some funds are guaranteeing millions of dollars in payments to persuade traders.
WORKFORCE
UK regulator turns to City spinners
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has enlisted FTI Consulting to provide internal communications support as the watchdog faces a staff revolt over pay reforms. FCA bosses are overhauling pay structures, and staff claim that the changes will lead to three in four employees facing pay cuts of 10%. The Telegraph’s Simon Foy notes that the FCA already has a “sizable communications” team, and paying more than £460,000 to bring in PR experts to handle internal messaging “suggests it is struggling to effectively communicate with its 4,000 employees.” Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, said: “While the FCA is ignoring the union and planning to make cuts to staff pay, it's outrageous that they're also spending nearly half a million pounds on communication consultants.”
LEGAL
Retailers named in Dutch criminal filing on Chinese forced labour in Xinjiang
A criminal complaint has been filed in the Netherlands by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), a non-profit advocacy group, accusing retailers including Nike, Patagonia and C&A of profiting from the alleged use of forced labour in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The filing argues that the companies’ use of Chinese suppliers frequently accused of using forced labour violates Dutch law. It is the third such filing in Europe made by the ECCHR following complaints in France and Germany.
Poland and Hungary suffer setback in legal challenge to EU’s rule of law
Hungary and Poland’s legal challenge to the European Union’s crackdown on rule of law breaches has suffered a serious setback after a legal opinion recommended their claim should be dismissed. EU authorities can cut funds to member states that are corrupt and curb independent courts, a senior adviser to the bloc's top court has said. The opinion by an ECJ advocate general called on the court to dismiss the challenge from the two countries against a law that allows Brussels to block EU funds to member states that fail to guarantee independent courts or institutions that can investigate corruption without fear or favour. The court usually follows the opinion of its advocates general and is expected to issue a final verdict early next year.
CORPORATE
Hermès to join Euro Stoxx 50 equity benchmark
Hermès International is to join the Euro Stoxx 50, one of Europe’s main equity benchmarks, an inclusion that will further bolster the French luxury company’s visibility among investors. It will replace Universal Music Group on the index, effective December 20th. Inclusion in widely followed indexes is becoming more important for companies in a world increasingly dominated by passive investment funds. An estimated 27 exchange traded funds with €35bn in assets follow the Euro Stoxx 50 benchmark.
REMUNERATION
Credit Suisse chair pledges to overhaul bankers’ pay
Credit Suisse chair António Horta-Osório says he will overhaul the bank’s pay policy, with a new pay structure to include incentives based on risk management metrics and longer-term rewards.
INTERNATIONAL
Australian retailer accused of underpaying workers by A$115m
Australia's Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) is taking action in the Federal Court against Coles, alleging that the supermarket chain underpaid 7,812 employees by $115.2m, significantly more than it had previously estimated. The alleged underpaid Coles employees were working in regional and metropolitan areas across every state and territory. The FWO alleges Coles’ salaried managers were generally contracted and rostered to work 40 hours per week, but often worked more hours. It alleges the salaried managers worked an average of approximately one hour per shift on top of their rostered hours, during that three-year period. The FWO also alleges that weekend and public holiday penalty rates, allowances and a range of other entitlements were also underpaid. In a statement to the stock exchange on Thursday, Coles said it was reviewing the proceedings filed by the FWO. It said the issues related to the "interpretation and applications of various provisions of the General Retail Industry Award" and if further remediation was required, it would update the market accordingly.
H1-B visas for US drop the most in a decade
A Bloomberg News analysis of data from the US Department of Labor indicates that the number of immigrants to the U.S. under the H1-B visa program holding high-tech jobs fell the most in at least a decade this year amid travel and visa restrictions. The decline comes as job openings in the industry reached record highs. “Since March 2020, the processing of any new visas has been dramatically slowed and almost halted by travel restrictions,” said Giovanni Peri, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis, who added that some jobs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, may be lost for good as remote work options could permanently offshore the roles outside of the US.
OTHER
Pandemic boosts public faith in researchers and science
An international Gallup poll suggests that trust in science and scientists has increased since the pandemic.  Results published by the Wellcome Trust, a London-headquartered foundation focused on health research, show that about 80% of people from 113 countries said they trusted science either “a lot” or “some.” About three-quarters of the 119,000 surveyed said they trusted scientists, either “a lot” or “some.” Fatima Tokhmafshan, a geneticist and science communicator who was not associated with the survey, said she was “not surprised by the results,” and suggested the interdisciplinary response to the pandemic among scientists in fields including public health, immunology, zoology and epidemiology helped people to understand the connections between science and their own well-being.

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