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MPs and investors have demanded an inquiry into the Financial Conduct Authority’s role in the failure of “mini-bond” provider Blackmore after the government agreed to compensate investors in London Capital & Finance, another mini-bond firm which failed in similar circumstances. The Telegraph reports that although the FCA claimed it did not receive reports on “Blackmore Bonds” until February 2020, a FoI request reveals City of London Police passed on reports about suspicious activity at Blackmore and related companies 45 times, with the first report sent in November 2018. Gavin Newlands MP, of the Scottish National Party, said: “The FCA was not so much asleep at the wheel as catatonic while the car exploded. If the Treasury is prepared to offer compensation to victims of LCF’s dark arts and the FCA’s catastrophic incompetence, the same should be given to Blackmore investors.”

 

The Daily Telegraph

Some of Credit Suisse’s largest shareholders will attempt to remove risk chief Andreas Gottschling in protest at twin scandals that have cost the bank billions and tarnished its reputation.

 

Financial Times

Darktrace's connections with Autonomy founder Mike Lynch are under scrutiny as the cybersecurity company gears up for a £3bn London float, the Telegraph reports. City sources tell the paper that major investment banks declined the chance to participate in the float after concerns were raised on due diligence committees. This comes after UBS quit as an adviser in February citing compliance concerns. Although Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson has said Lynch isn’t involved in the day-to-day running of the company, the Telegraph asserts that at least 30 figures from Autonomy’s past are involved in running the outfit. The paper also details claims from former employees of an “insanely hostile and aggressive” sales culture at the business, something the company says has changed under global head of sales Katie Newton.

 

The Daily Telegraph

Regulators in Guernsey have fined Standard Chartered £140,000 for having “inadequate controls to manage risk” in its trust unit on the island. The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) said that, between 2012 and 2016, it found a range of “serious issues” related to the firm’s compliance, financial crime risk assessments, onboarding and due diligence processes.

 

Financial Times

The Times

The chief executive overseeing the Post Office when a faulty IT system led to scores of workers being prosecuted for fraud is to quit the boards of two major retailers, Sky News reports. Paula Vennells, who was Post Office CEO between 2012 and 2019, will step down as a director at Morrisons and Dunelm. Sources state her resignation had been mutually agreed after the Court of Appeal on Friday quashed the convictions of 39 sub-postmasters who had been accused of theft, fraud and false accounting, with some wrongly having been sent to prison. "The decision was inevitable," one boardroom colleague said. "She has been a diligent and effective director, but there was no way for her to stay on after the ruling - and it's hard to see how she will ever be able to work again." Unions are now calling for Vennells to be stripped of her CBE and for millions of pounds in bonuses to be clawed back. The Mail notes that Vennells is also an ordained priest but will now be stepping away from regular parish ministry.

 

Sky News

Daily Mail

Faced with a furious backlash for funding the European Super League (ESL), JP Morgan has expressed regret about its involvement, saying: "We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed in the wider football community and how it might impact them in future. We will learn from this." The US bank had agreed to provide €3.25bn of funding for the ESL, to be paid back over 23 years from broadcast rights income.

 

Financial Times

The Times

A group of investors in Barclays has written to CEO Jes Staley calling for the bank to stop providing services to companies that are planning new oil sands projects and related infrastructure or developing new coal mines and power plants. Investors including Amundi, Man Group and Nest complained that the lender was failing to meet its pledge to stop funding the most carbon-intensive energy projects. The intervention was orchestrated by ShareAction, which is pushing a resolution at Barclays’ AGM calling for the bank to do more to tackle the climate crisis. 

 

The Times

It is in the European Union’s own interests to agree a post-Brexit deal on financial services, says PwC’s global head of financial services John Garvey, who predicts that although an agreement may not transpire in the short term, the Europeans will eventually realise they need access to the London market. An aversion to shouldering the risk is also hampering the EU’s efforts to set up a new financial centre, Garvey claims, as none of their governments, particularly Germany, is comfortable with taking on the responsibility.

 

The Daily Telegraph

Pressure from activist investors has finally forced FirstGroup to sell two North American operations. The company is selling US divisions First Student and First Transit to EQT Infrastructure. Some £365m will be returned to shareholders while almost 90% of the proceeds have been set aside for paying down debt and plugging a hole in FirstGroup's pension scheme.

 

The Daily Telegraph

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has questioned mortgage lenders on their exposure to leasehold flats and blocks with fire risks, the Sunday Times reports, with Bank of England analysts allegedly concerned about the Grenfell Tower cladding scandal’s effect on property values. PRA analysis concluded initially that banks could absorb a fall in values, but a new study has found flats in developments with fire risks are failing to sell or only sell if heavily discounted.

 

Sunday Times

 

The Sunday Telegraph

The Unite union is launching a campaign to end fire and rehire tactics with a day of coordinated strikes across the UK. Unite wants to increase pressure on the government to protect workers’ rights as thousands of employees have been forced to accept worse pay and conditions to keep their jobs in the wake of the economic disruption caused by the pandemic. The TUC has found that one in ten UK workers had been threatened with fire and rehire during the pandemic. Unite’s assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said: “Millions of people all over the country are facing the sack if they don’t accept less pay and worse conditions. This wave of despicable fire and rehire tactics from bad bosses will only grow as furlough comes to an end. After months of pandemic hardship, this is no way to treat people. The government knows this is wrong and can end fire and rehire with one stroke of a legislative pen.” Meanwhile, Unite says Amazon workers in the UK and Ireland should be allowed to talk with and form unions "without fear." No UK Amazon warehouses are unionised, and Unite has urged the online retailer to sign a "neutrality declaration" guaranteeing workers that it would not try to stop union organising. The move comes after workers in the US voted against forming the country's first unionised Amazon warehouse. However, the RWDSU union, which organised the effort in Alabama, accused Amazon of illegally interfering in the vote and lying about the implications of unionisation in mandatory staff meetings.

 

BBC News

Daily Mirror

In The Observer, David Robson considers the effectiveness of unconscious bias training and notes that although multiple studies have found that participants acknowledge training has raised their awareness of bias, there is little evidence of long-lasting change. Psychologists suggest organisations should stop seeing unconscious bias and diversity training as a quick fix, and instead use it as the foundation for broader organisational change. Professor Edward Chang at Harvard Business School says: “Diversity training is unlikely to be an effective standalone solution. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be an effective component of a multi-pronged approach to improving diversity, equity and inclusion in organisations.”

 

The Observer

Analysis by the Resolution Foundation shows that younger and older workers in the UK have been the worst affected by the Covid jobs crisis. Older workers suffered the biggest annual fall in employment since the 1980s according to the think-tank, which has called on the government to provide retraining opportunities for older workers and to ensure that its support was tailored to their needs as well as to those of younger workers. Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said it was particularly concerning that older women had been so badly affected by the loss of their livelihoods as a result of the pandemic. "This group are most likely to have caring responsibilities so might find it more difficult to get alternative work, " she said

 

BBC News

The Times

The Guardian

Ahead of the eighth anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory disaster, in which some 1,100 workers died, labour activists are urging brands to extend a factory safety deal in Bangladesh. The collapse of the eight-storey building near Dhaka on April 24th 2013 led some 200 brands, including H&M and Zara, to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which held thousands of inspections and banned unsafe factories from supplying its signatory buyers, helping make some 1,600 factories safer for 2m workers; however, the agreement expires on May 31st. “It is vital that brands and retailers sourcing from Bangladesh ensure that the one major achievement that came out of this disaster is not lost”, said Ineke Zeldenrust, coordinator of the pressure group Clean Clothes Campaign. “There are five weeks to go until the Accord agreement runs out, but the first Accord came about in only three. Brands can make it happen if they want to.”

 

Reuters

Research by Charles Schwab indicates that 51% of investors aged 18-37 held cryptocurrencies while a survey by Nationwide found young people with at least £1,000 in savings were more likely to invest in cryptocurrencies. The studies follow a recent warning from the Financial Conduct Authority that inexperienced investors aren't diversifying their portfolios enough to mitigate risks.

 

Sunday Times