Environmental issues and big business are, in the current climate, moving towards a point where they are one and the same. However, there is still some way to go and there needs to be a number of developments in order to move towards a greener role for business. We have discussed environmental issues, mostly under the guise of so-called ESG principles (Environmental, Social, and Governance) on a number of occasions – in terms of finance , cars , shareholders , and many others. This author has also written on the role that financial gatekeepers have on making ESG investing the norm . It is this concept of a ‘role’ that is the basis for today’s post, with news coming today that a number of leading Banks are leading the way in encouraging the shipping industry to go green. The news came this morning that a number of banks – Citi, Societe Generale, DNB, ABN Amro, Amsterdam Trade Bank, Credit Agricole, Danish Ship Finance, Danske Bank, DVB, ING, and Nordea – have signed up to a globa...

We have covered the automotive industry on a number of occasions here in Financial Regulation Matters , ranging from posts on emissions-related scandals and issues with the leadership of some of the industry’s largest companies (via Oluwarotimi Adeniyi-Akintola ) to the increased focus on the electrification of the industry . In today’s post however, we shall focus on the current state of the British automotive industry and examine whether the current issues impacting the industry are related to Brexit, as most of the press suggests, or to deeper-rooted issues that may fundamentally affect the future of the industry in the UK. The subject of the auto industry in the post-Brexit era is a complex one. There are materials that are available, and indeed incredibly useful, in order to gain a solid understanding of the issues – see the excellent Keeping the Wheels on the Road: UK Auto Post-Brexit developed by Prof. David Bailey @dgbailey and others as part of the Bite-Sized Brexit ...

The business press has been awash with articles concerning the fallen investment star Neil Woodford, who suspended withdrawals from his Equity Income Fund on Monday. As part of these reports, a number of issues have been raised ranging from the protection afforded by the regulator – The Financial Conduct Authority – to the role of so-called investment ‘ supermarkets ’ like Hargreaves Lansdown. In this post we will look at these issues but focus mainly on the conceptual role, or identity, of the so-called ‘retail investor’. Neil Woodford, best known for his time at Invesco Perpetual, started the Equity Income Fund five years ago and, even upon its launch, was placed in Hargreaves Lansdown’s ‘Wealth 50’ list. Hargreaves Lansdown, which ‘ issues recommendations about which managers to back to an army of retail investors ’ has since suffered the consequence for maintaining Woodford’s place on that list, even up until the fund had been suspended, as its shares dropped 4% on news of i...

Today’s post discusses the recent, and very much expected move of the European Banking Authority from London to Paris. Very much in response to Brexit, the EBA now sits at the junction of a new phase in its development in terms of forming a central component of a new direction for European financial service provision. This post will discuss this move and also assess an interesting and thought-provoking article by Frances Coppola ( @Frances_Coppola ) in a recent issue of Forbes. In November of 2017, Paris and Dublin were tied in the race to be the new home of the European Banking Authority. After the decision of the British electorate to leave the European Union was confirmed, it was deemed essential by the EU that the EBA, and the European Medicines Agency, would both be relocated from London. Whilst the EMA were relocated to Amsterdam, it would be Paris that would emerge victorious in the race to secure the presence of the EBA , in a move that would see the EBA sit in the same ...

With the Credit Rating Agencies being the exclusive research concern of this author, it is unsurprising that they, as an industry, have featured heavily here in Financial Regulation Matters . As such, we tend to keep abreast of developments within this industry as well as other key financial areas, and in this post we will continue this approach by examining the latest ‘move’ in this particular marketplace. We recently looked at developments within Scope Ratings , the European entity seeking to provide a pan-European alternative, whilst we also looked at recent mergers that potentially concern the so-called ‘Big Three’ (in relation to sale of Acuris ). To complement these analyses we looked closer at the concept of an ‘ oligopoly ’ and its application onto the credit rating industry, which allows us to understand the dynamics between the Big Three and their relationship with the rest of the marketplace. We will soon be analysing a new entrant into the marketplace in the coming weeks...