KPMG should take blame for Carillion scandal, not junior accountant Pratik Paw, critics say May 20, 2022 Critics have said the Big Four accountancy firms should flatten their hierarchies and ensure junior colleagues are able to challenge their superiors, to ensure low ranking workers are not blamed for accounting scandals. The comments come as regulators have called for KPMG junior Pratik Paw to be fined £50,000 over his role in the scandal [...]
Ex-White & Case lawyer says he faced discrimination due to anxiety and depression May 19, 2022 A former White & Case partner has accused the firm of being a “toxic” workplace after claiming he was pushed out of his position at White & Case’s London office after developing depression due to his wife’s cancer diagnosis. Michael Wistow, the former co-head of White & Case’s EMEA tax practice, has said he was [...]
UK’s audit sector trade bodies would not object to giving Big Four fines to the government May 19, 2022 Two of the UK’s biggest audit industry trade bodies have said they would welcome any plans to see money raised through fines against auditors given over to the UK government, in order to fund Britain’s regulatory bodies. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) both [...]
Mishcon de Reya hikes salaries for newly qualified lawyers to £90,000 a year May 19, 2022 London law firm Mishcon de Reya has given its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers an eight per cent pay rise, after upping their salaries from £83,000 to £90,000. The pay hike leaves Mishcon lagging behind its Silver Circle rivals, including Ashurst and Herbert Smith Freehills, who both pay NQs salaries of £105,000 a year In a [...]
Russian oligarch’s libel lawsuit against Bellingcat founder thrown out of court May 19, 2022 A libel lawsuit brought forward by a sanctioned Russian oligarch against the founder of investigative news site Bellingcat has been thrown out of court. A High Court judge dismissed Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s lawsuit against Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, due to the oligarch’s “repeated failure to comply with simple court orders,” following his lawyers exit from the [...]
Laurence Fox fails to get libel trial heard by a jury May 19, 2022 Laurence Fox has failed in his bid to get his libel trial heard by a jury, in what would have been the first libel case heard jury in a decade. A judge rejected the actor and right-wing political activist’s argument that Fox would not get a fair hearing as judges hearing the case may suffer [...]
High Court rejects Greek bank’s claim against Lloyds insurer over ship detained in Venezuela May 18, 2022 A UK High Court has rejected a Greek bank’s $71m claim against Lloyd’s insurer Antares seeking a multi-million-dollar payout over a ship detained by Venezuelan authorities. The ruling is set to come as a relief to insurers in setting out that such situations are not covered by war risk policies. The case comes after Venezuelan [...]
Fund manager faces 40 years in prison after using Allianz’ good name to defraud investors May 18, 2022 The star portfolio manager behind Allianz’ Structured Alpha funds faces decades in prison after he traded off Allianz’ good reputation to defraud investors of billions, US prosecutors have said. French-American citizen Gregoire Tournant earned $60m from his role as Chief Investment Officer at Allianz, as he lied to investors and misled them as to the [...]
KPMG drops embattled property firm Adler as client following allegations of wrongdoing May 18, 2022 KPMG has dropped German property firm Adler as an audit client after refusing to sign off on its accounts last month. In a letter to investors, Adler chairman Stefan Kirsten said KPMG’s decision had come as a “great surprise” to the firm, as he said the firm is now searching for a new auditor. Kirsten [...]
Aviva on track to meet financial targets after sales jump five per cent May 18, 2022 British insurance giant Aviva today said it is on track to meet its financial targets after its sales increased by 5 per cent to £2bn, on the back of strong trading in the UK and Canada. The London insurer said it had brought in an extra 100,000 UK customers over the previous year brining its [...]
