Washington, D.C., Dec. 21, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today unanimously approved new rules requiring broker-dealers to conduct searches for holders of securities with whom they have lost contact. A similar rule already applied to recordkeeping transfer agents, who are the intermediaries between the clearing house and the broker-dealer. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street [...]
Washington, D.C., Dec. 21, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four securities industry professionals with conducting a fraudulent penny stock scheme in which they illegally acquired more than one billion unregistered shares in microcap companies at deep discounts and then dumped them on the market for approximately $17 million in illicit profits [...]
Washington, D.C., Dec. 21, 2012 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Elisse Walter today announced the appointment of Paul A. Beswick as the agency’s Chief Accountant. Mr. Beswick has been serving as Acting Chief Accountant for the past several months. “Paul has served the Commission with great distinction and provided wise counsel on difficult accounting [...]
Changes to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regulations mean that UK-based estate agents who assist clients to buy or sell overseas property must comply with the regulations from 1 October 2012 and register as soon as possible. Those that fail to do so may be subject to a fine or face prosecution. The OFT also welcomes [...]
The economy’s health and the presidential election take center stage among consumers this fall, but with holiday shoppers waiting in the wings retailers should expect a modest increase in 2012 holiday sales, Deloitte forecast today. “Economic headwinds nagging consumers this fall include stubbornly high gasoline prices that continue to creep up and soft housing and [...]
The OFT has today referred the UK’s private motor insurance market to the Competition Commission for further investigation amid concerns that the market is not working well for motorists. The OFT provisionally decided to refer the market to the Competition Commission in May this year after a market study gave it reasonable grounds for suspecting [...]
Ernst & Young is pleased to announce that it has received a “strong positive”, the highest possible rating given, in Gartner’s MarketScope for Global Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Consulting Services. Gartner’s MarketScope rating includes recommendations to customers and potential customers of the rated firms. When considering or currently working with a firm rated “strong positive,” [...]
KPMG has been ranked in the top ten employers for working families for the second year running by independent benchmarking and award organisation, Working Families. The awards recognise employers who support parents, carers and flexible workers with work-life balance and career development. All entrants including KPMG completed a robust benchmark survey which examined flexible working [...]
Ernst & Young’s 2012 Global Fraud Survey , shows that 28% of Irish respondents believe that there is an increase in bribery and corrupt practices since the economic downturn. This compares to 16% in Western Europe. Over 1700 executives across 43 countries, including CFO’s, heads of legal and internal audit participated in the survey for [...]
The economy’s health and the presidential election take center stage among consumers this fall, but with holiday shoppers waiting in the wings retailers should expect a modest increase in 2012 holiday sales, Deloitte forecast. “Economic headwinds nagging consumers this fall include stubbornly high gasoline prices that continue to creep up and soft housing and job [...]
Over the past two years, the UK’s tax competitiveness has improved the most among major economies examined in a study conducted by KPMG International. KPMG’s Competitive Alternatives 2012, Special Report: Focus on Tax, assesses the impact of all business taxes in 14 countries worldwide, building on data compiled for ten countries in 2010. Comparing this year’s results [...]
The overwhelming majority of UK companies are very positive about improvements that have been made to UK digital networks in recent years and are confident that the trend will continue. According to the CBI/KPMG infrastructure survey 2012, Better connected, better business, 82% of companies feel that networks are in a better state than five years [...]
Grant Thornton’s recently released 2012 Food & Beverage industry pulse survey confirms what we are seeing with our clients: an industry with a positive outlook for increasing sales but with pressures on maintaining profitability over the next 12 months. Cost pressures identified by survey respondents include the recently introduced Carbon Tax, new product labelling laws [...]
Steelmaker shares tumbled Tuesday as construction and mining equipment makerCaterpillar ( CAT ) cut its 2015 profit outlook owing to global economic weakness. Analysts have a dismal outlook for the industry for the remainder of the year despite China’s stealth building plans and global central banks printing money. Market Vectors Steel ETF ( SLX ), [...]
The Competition Commission (CC) has formally cleared McGill’s Bus Services Limited’s (McGill’s) completed acquisition of the Arriva Scotland West (ASW) local bus business. This confirms the CC’s provisional findings, which were published last month. McGill’s and ASW operated competing local bus services in Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and the west of Glasgow, including the town of [...]
