- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Neil Hodge2023-12-18T18:57:00
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) long-planned transition to become the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA) appears to be taking place no time soon.
The King’s Speech in November did not include parliamentary time to enact the legislation to create ARGA. The omission signified it is unlikely the FRC’s supposedly tougher replacement will be up and running before 2026/27—a prospect that might seem even more doubtful given there will be a general election by January 2025.
Some might even question whether the legislation will ever be of high enough priority to make it to the statute books.
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The Financial Reporting Council held back on the latest round of updates to the U.K.’s corporate governance code, as the country remains wary of pushing away businesses and investors.
Legal experts are unconvinced record fines against audit firms imposed last year by the U.K. Financial Reporting Council will necessarily improve audit quality.
Lawyers and accountants in the United Kingdom have welcomed the publication of The Pensions Regulator’s new pensions code of practice but warned it might not improve the management of those that are not already well run.
Breaches of the EU’s GDPR can cost companies substantial sums and huge reputational damage. Now some are warning that the implementation of the EU’s AI Act will be just as far-reaching, and could potentially lead to similar numbers of cases.
Any product that uses AI needs to be safety assessed for its entire lifespan under new rules that went into effect recently across the EU. Experts warned companies using AI to tailor products could be classed as “manufacturers” and face the same duty of care as developed.
When lawmakers slam the U.K.’s chief financial regulator as “incompetent,” it not only opens the doors for others to pile criticism on it, but it sparks a debate about how the organization can be improved–or removed.
