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1. Marriott Hotel faces potential data breach fine of £99.2 million
2. FCA highlights fall in suspicious share trading before takeovers
3. MPs approve amendment to help prevent ?no-deal? Brexit
UK GDP growth in the three months to May 2019, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said it plans to fine the US hotel group Marriott International £99.2 million for a data breach that resulted in about 339 million guests having had their personal details exposed (BBC News, online only). Marriott International admitted in November last year that personal data including credit card details, passport numbers and dates of birth had been stolen in a global hack of guest records (The Guardian, online only). Marriott said that it deeply regretted the incident and had co-operated in the investigation, adding that it ?intends to respond and vigorously defend its position? (The Times, £, p33).
The fine comes just a day after the ICO announced it plans to fine British Airways £183 million for a similar data breach. The size of both penalties reflects the fact that the watchdog has greater powers as a result of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force last year (Financial Times, £ p18). The Daily Mail (p47) suggests that given the role of data breaches in enabling fraud, the money raised from these fines should be paid into a pot that can be used to compensate fraud victims.
Suspicious trades that can indicate insider trading occurred before ten per cent of takeover announcements in the UK in 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revealed yesterday in its annual report (Financial Times, p3). This was the lowest level since 2006 and a marked drop from the previous year, when suspicious trades occurred before 22 per cent of takeover announcements. FCA Chief Executive Andrew Bailey said: ?This year we have taken steps to combat the risks of market abuse, including opening 484 preliminary market abuse investigations (CityAM, p6)."
The report cited preparation for a potential ?no-deal? Brexit, taking over regulation of claims management firms and clamping down on high-cost credit as major projects over the past year (The Times, p34, £). The regulator also revealed that it collected £227 million in fines and penalties in 2018-19, over three times as much as in the previous year (The i, p40, print only).
The House of Commons yesterday passed an amendment, tabled by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, requiring the government to produce fortnightly reports from October until December on power sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland (Financial Times, p7). The amendment is intended to make it more difficult for a future prime minister to force through a ?no-deal Brexit? by proroguing Parliament in the lead up to 31 October, the UK's currently scheduled EU withdrawal date (BBC News, online only).
Separately, the Labour Party announced that its policy on Brexit is to support a referendum - including the option of remaining in the EU - before the Conservative government can proceed with a negotiated or ?no-deal? exit from the UK. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn confirmed that in such a referendum, his party would campaign for the UK to remain in the EU (The Guardian, p10).
Ahead of UK Finance's Later Life Lending Conference on Thursday, David Dalton-Brown, CEO, TISA, blogs on thinking ahead and helping future generations.
The Daily Mail (p43) reports on how banks are increasingly adopting voice-recognition systems to tackle fraud and help older people who find it harder to remember passwords.
The Financial Conduct Authority and the National Crime Agency have been asked by MPs to investigate allegations that banks forged signatures on legal documents used to repossess people's homes. A spokesman for UK Finance said: "Forgery is a criminal offence and banks will continue to be vigilant against such types of fraud (Daily Telegraph, £, online only)."
The UK economy grew by more than expected in May with overall output up by 0.3 per cent, helped by a rebound in car production, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed (Reuters, online only).
European regulators (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA) have published a joint reportsetting out recommendations to improve the cross-border supervision of retail financial services (Politico, £, online only).
Proposals to update anti-money laundering rules in the UK could make it harder for media and researchers to access information on illicit financial flows, anti-corruption campaigners have warned in an open letter to the foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt (The Guardian, p2).
In the Financial Times (£, p11), FT Alphaville editor Isabella Kaminska argues that fines levied recently over data breaches show that companies should stop thinking of the customer data they store as a costless balance-sheet asset. She suggests that as companies now spend significant time and money protecting the data they hold, failure to take adequate steps can be equally costly. However, Kaminska warns that the costs associated with protecting data are in danger of becoming a significant barrier to entry, which could have negative consequences for competition.
Associate editor Jeremy Warner writes in the Daily Telegraph (£, B2) on the role of central banks in fuelling the current asset price bubble. He remarks that confronted by evidence of a renewed economic slowdown, the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have reversed their tightening stances and are back in a ?dovish mindset?. He concludes that while loose monetary policy has boosted the economy in both the US and EU, it carries long-term risks, and the inevitable bursting of the asset price bubble is likely to have ?dire consequences?.
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