South Africa is currently still reeling from the ‘ Gupta scandal ’, but in recent news one of the leading global auditors has come under intense fire for a number of aspects, including its links to the Gupta family. In this short post, we will review the recent news and examine the future for the auditor in the country in the wake of incredible action by the South African government. On Tuesday, it was announced that South Africa has banned KPMG from auditing public companies within the country. The move comes on the back of a number of scandals involving the auditor, including its ties to the Gupta family and also the recent collapse of VBS, a South African bank that despite being given a clean bill of health by the auditor collapsed a short time later. It has been stated by KPMG that senior officials within the South African arm of the company have left the company before they could face disciplinary action for failing to declare a financial interest in the bank . Although KP...

As usual here in Financial Regulation Matters , today’s post looks at something we have assessed on a number of occasions (which likely hints at the systemic and continued nature of these issues that are identified on a regular basis here). Today’s post focuses on the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) as pressure upon continues to increase. Its position, and future as a regulator, is being called into question more and more recently on the back accounting scandals (like that seen with Carillion), but recently the FRC has announced measures which it hopes will be seen as being representative of a proactive regulatory culture within the organisation. The news came yesterday that the FRC is endeavouring to incorporate new procedures into its regulation of the audit industry, with the regulator taking specific aim at the so-called ‘Big Six’ (in reality it is probably a ‘Big Four’). The new approach dictates that when one of the six firms cited – KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, EY, Grant Thornt...

In Financial Regulation Matters , we have looked at a number of issues within the automobile (hereafter ‘auto’) industry, ranging from the positive – the ever-growing expansion of the electric auto market – to the negative – concerns over the finance bubble which is continuing to grow within the sector . Today’s post looks at the latter issue, with news recently suggesting that the inevitable conclusion to the growing ‘bubble’ is drawing ever nearer. In a post in May of last year, we discussed how the fears regarding a growing credit bubble in the auto industry were beginning to get louder and louder, with the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England raising specific concerns over an increased rate of indebtedness within the sector . Now, in the United States, those same concerns have manifested in the first stages of a process we are all living the result of today. Only a few days ago Bloomberg reported that a ‘ growing number of small subprime auto lenders are clos...

We have looked at Barclays on quite a few occasions here in Financial Regulation Matters , and today’s post continues with that theme. Following on from developments surrounding financial penalties for the firm , and also the scandal involving Jes Staley and his attempts to uncover a whistleblower , recent news regarding the potential future for the Bank deserve to be discussed as it continues to attempt to redevelop itself within the post-Crisis era. Earlier this month, the Bank made the headlines for successfully ‘ring-fencing’ their consumer-focused element of the company, which the Bank described as ‘ the biggest banking start-up ever ’. In responding to the British Government’s insistence that ‘ the largest UK banks must separate core retail banking from investment banking ’, the bank successfully completed the transfer of more than 24 million customer accounts, which equated to more than £250 billion worth of assets. In addition, which is extremely topical, the ring-fencin...