Over the years here in Financial Regulation Matters , we have looked at a number of elements of ‘consumer protection’, broadly defined. From predatory lenders to governmental policies that disproportionately affect the poor (and everything in between like the larger culture of credit dependency ), we have seen a number of examples of when capitalism and vulnerable people collide, and vulnerable people are exploited. One area where this concept is visible is within the gambling arena whereby, since 2005 with the Gambling Act , the marketplace for in-person and online gambling has ballooned. However, an influential group of MPs are now seeking to address this issue, and even just that sentiment is already having a demonstrable effect. The headlines in the media run with the fact that, since the influential All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Gambling Related Harm recently published a report calling for the Gambling Act 2005 to be fundamentally reconsidered , shares in Brit...

Here in Financial Regulation Matters we have focused on the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) marketplace on a number of occasions, and we have looked at the conduct of the leading auditors on many occasions too; in today’s post, the focus will be on the relationship between the two, which will provide with an overview of recent turbulent events within the marketplace and the potential, albeit a very slight one, of the contagion within the industry causing either a massive organisation to fail, or more probably their regulator to collapse. We looked at the concept of the PFI late last year and discussed how the injection of private interest into the public sphere is perhaps the most obvious of examples of how one can, purposefully or otherwise, examine the theory and neglect the reality. Whilst we looked at how the ideology was creeping (although that word perhaps downplays the actual situation) into publically vital sectors like the NHS – Virgin’s recent consolidation in this...

Today’s post reacts to the recently published Parker Review , which is a final report led by Sir John Parker in association with Ernst & Young and Linklaters. The report, entitled A Report into the Ethnic Diversity of UK Boards , aims to shine a light on the issue of representativeness on FTSE Boards, with a specific focus on FTSE 100 Boards, and then prescribe some recommendations which it hopes will have a positive effect in this particular field. So, in this post, we will take a closer look at the Report and assess whether it may achieve its aims and, more importantly, whether its aims are even useful or correctly constructed in the first place. We have looked at this issue of representativeness at Board level before here in Financial Regulation Matters , but mostly from a gender-related viewpoint ( here and here ). However, as the Parker Report states in its preamble: ‘ U.K. Boards have made great progress on gender diversity but we still have much to do when it comes t...

Although Australia has weathered the supposedly global storm after the Financial Crisis (a number of countries, of course, were simply not as affected by the Crisis like their Western colleagues), with consistently positive results being reported by their largest banks (until recently), and solid economic fundamentals in place to protect them from external shocks, the Australian Government is pressing ahead with plans to reform the banking system in the Country and, in today’s post, these reforms will be the focus. We discussed the situation in Australia only recently here in Financial Regulation Matters in relation to the Credit Rating Agencies taking aim at Australian banks, so it is clear that the Australian banking system is currently experiencing a very challenging time. In that sense, the proposed reforms, which are currently at the consultative stage, are the epitome of that changing environment, but the question for us today is whether the reforms can make a difference, ...