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The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has received a "strategic steer" from government that emphasises a pro-growth agenda. The Treasury's directive, which mentions "growth" 17 times, aims to realign the CMA's priorities towards fostering investment and innovation. The CMA is also urged to expedite its investigations. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "This government believes in promoting and protecting competition – that is fundamental to our growth mission . . . Our economic regulators are crucial to creating the conditions for increased growth and investment." Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has highlighted the importance of competitive markets for attracting investment and driving economic growth. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said: "The steer provides helpful clarity on how the CMA should prioritise and go about our work, promoting competition and protecting consumers with a sharp focus on supporting higher levels of investment and economic growth."

 

Reuters

City AM

Dior has confirmed a cyber attack that led to a data breach, compromising personal customer information, primarily in China. The breach, discovered on May 7th, involved unauthorised access to a customer database containing names, gender, email and postal addresses, phone numbers, and purchase history. The incident comes at a challenging time for Dior's parent company, LVMH, which reported an 11% drop in sales in China. Analysts warn that the exposed information could lead to targeted phishing attacks, with Muhammad Yahya Patel from Check Point Software noting that "threat actors could use this data to craft convincing scams." Dior said it was committed to safeguarding customer information and is working with authorities to mitigate further impact.

 

The Times

City AM

Daily Mail

Tens of thousands of British businesses may have hackers infiltrating their systems, according to Dr Harjinder Lallie from the University of Warwick. Luxury fashion brand Dior recently reported a data breach, while M&S continues to deal with the aftermath of an attack that began in April. Dr Lallie noted: "Tens of thousands of businesses up and down the UK probably have hackers inside their network already and just don't know about it." Sky News notes that the rise in cyber threats is attributed to a shift in the hacking market, with tools like DragonForce enabling even inexperienced individuals to launch attacks. The combination of ransomware-as-a-service and generative AI is making these attacks more sophisticated and accessible.

 

Sky News

Spain has found no indication of a cyberattack on its grid operator REE during the massive power blackout that hit the country and also Portugal on April 28, Energy Minister Sara Aagesen has said. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had on April 29 said that his administration wasn't ruling out the possibility of a cyberattack as a cause of the outage.

 

U.S. News

A group of European retailers and trade groups has written to the European Commission urging it to take action on the allegedly high fees charged by Visa and Mastercard, saying that they hurt the bloc's competitiveness and hamper rivals. The letter was addressed to the Commission's antitrust chief Teresa Ribera, financial services commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque, and economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis; signatories include EuroCommerce, Ecommerce Europe, and Independent Retail Europe, along with retailers such as Amazon, Carrefour, Ikea, and Marks & Spencer.

 

Reuters

The Financial Conduct Authority is increasing efforts to deter individuals from insider dealing and will target the media's potential involvement in market abuse offences. Earlier this year, the City watchdog said it was "concerned a culture may have developed among market participants where strategically leaking inside information to the media is acceptable during a transaction."

 

FT Adviser

Spreadex Limited has been fined £2m by the Gambling Commission for serious breaches in anti-money laundering and social responsibility protocols. The firm failed to engage adequately with a customer who repeatedly hit a daily deposit limit of £3,340 over 14 days, and did not conduct necessary checks on a customer who deposited approximately £64,000. John Pierce, head of enforcement at the Gambling Commission, said a failure to uphold anti-money laundering standards was "unacceptable." This penalty follows a previous £1.36m settlement in 2022 for similar issues.

 

The Independent

German audit regulator Apas says Republican plans to overhaul scrutiny of accounting firms by scrapping the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board puts co-operation between the two countries at risk.

 

Financial Times

Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc has expressed concerns over the government's potential mandate for pension funds to invest in UK assets, saying it would be "like a sledgehammer to crack a nut." She emphasised that defined contribution funds should prioritise the interests of individual pension savers and that the industry is already willing to invest in the UK. The government's proposed power comes amid a Treasury review that aims to ensure compliance with a voluntary agreement to boost investments in UK private assets by £25bn by 2030. Blanc warned of the "unintended consequences" of such mandates, highlighting the need for broader behavioural changes across the industry. Blanc was speaking as Aviva reported first-quarter figures that showed general insurance premiums rose 9% year-on-year to £2.9bn.

 

Financial Times

The Times

The post-pandemic shift to remote and hybrid work among highly skilled professionals has failed to level up Britain’s economy, according to academic research funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Economic and Social Research Council. Although hybrid working has surged, it is mostly available to older, high-skilled professionals based in major cities, and while 52% of all UK workers never work from home, among highly skilled workers the rate is 29%. Dr David McCollum, one of the report’s co-authors, said there has not been a mass relocation of highly skilled workers to cheaper places, with people "still opting to live in places that offer the best wages and the best opportunities for their profession."

 

The Guardian

The National Audit Office (NAO) has raised concerns that wealthy individuals in Britain may be evading more tax than previously estimated, following a significant drop in penalties issued by HMRC. The report highlights that while HMRC's compliance yield from wealthy taxpayers increased from £2.2bn in 2019/20 to £5.2bn in 2023/24, this rise was more than £1bn greater than the "wealthy tax gap" estimated by HMRC. The NAO noted that the number of penalties for wealthy taxpayers fell by over 75% from 2018/19 to 2023/24, indicating a potential increase in non-compliance. HMRC aims to close the tax gap and generate an additional £7.5bn for public services by 2029/30. The government has faced calls to impose higher taxes on the wealthy as it prepares for the upcoming spending review. 

 

The Guardian

The I

The National Audit Office (NAO) has raised significant concerns regarding UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the UK's largest public funder of research and innovation projects. The NAO's assessment highlights issues with fraud protection, lack of coherent direction from government departments, and inefficient data systems. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, emphasised the importance of UKRI's role, saying: "With UKRI spending over £9bn on R&I a year, it is vital that it gets this right." The report also noted that UKRI lacks measurable objectives, making it difficult to track progress. Furthermore, the NAO found that UKRI is not fully compliant with government counter-fraud standards, with investigations revealing £4.6m in fraud and £13.5m prevented.

 

London Evening Standard

The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has reported a significant increase in the reimbursement of scam victims since the introduction of mandatory fraud reimbursement rules last October. The new rules require banks to refund consumers tricked into transferring money to criminals, with an APP reimbursement limit of £85,000. In the first three months, 86% of money lost to APP scams was returned, totalling around £27m. The PSR noted that there has been no evidence of a spike in claims, and reimbursement rates have improved, with 68% of claims being reimbursed in 2023 according to UK Finance's annual fraud report.

 

The Standard

HSBC has announced plans to reduce its workforce in France by 348 positions, representing approximately 10% of its total staff in the country. The move is part of a broader cost-cutting initiative led by CEO Georges Elhedery, who aims to save $1.8bn by the end of 2026. The bank has already divested its retail and insurance operations in France as it retreats from slow-growing markets in Europe and North America.

 

Reuters

British Airways has been fined £3.2m following two serious incidents involving baggage handlers at Heathrow Airport. Ravinder Teji and Shahjahan Malik both suffered significant injuries after falling from unguarded equipment, despite prior warnings about safety risks. The court noted that British Airways had been informed of the risks in March 2022 but failed to rectify the issues before the accidents occurred. Judge Brendan Finucane KC said that the incidents should "send a red warning light" to airlines globally, highlighting the need for improved safety measures. 

 

The Standard

Researchers writing in the journal Nature Cities say that while land subsidence is often considered solely a coastal hazard due to relative sea-level rise, subsidence also threatens inland urban areas, causing increased flood risks, structural damage and transportation disruptions. The FT's Anjana Ahuja highlights that "China is a slumping hotspot . . . [and] Mexico City is another capital on the slide."

 

Financial Times

Nature Cities