The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Bounty (UK) Limited £400,000 for illegally sharing personal information belonging to more than 14 million people. An ICO investigation found that Bounty, a pregnancy and parenting club, collected personal information for the purpose of membership registration through its website and mobile app, merchandise pack claim cards and directly from new mothers at hospital bedsides.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is warning General Insurance (GI) firms about manufacturing, sales and distribution approaches that can lead to customers purchasing inappropriate products, paying excessive prices or receiving poor service. The recently implemented Insurance Distribution Directive requires that all firms in the GI distribution chain act in accordance with the best interests of the customer. The recently implemented Senior Manager and Certification Regime is designed to make Senior Managers accountable for the actions of their firms.

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If a United States – China purchasing agreement goes through – Taiwan and Malaysia will suffer the most in the near term – South Korea and Japan also have a lot to lose, according to a Goldman Sachs report. It will be effecting the Semiconductor exporters in Asia are esspecialy, if China decides to import more American products to ease trade tensions. Taiwan would lose more than 1% of its GDP, while Malaysia would lose about 0.7%, according to the report’s estimates, based on the assumption that China’s “shopping list” will amount to $125 billion of American imports annually. South Korea and Japan could also lose $8 billion each.

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After more than 7 years, Julian Assange (Wikileaks co-founder) stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in London ends. With the cooperation from Ecuador, where Assange had sought political refuge, London police arrested Assange. The London police took Assange into custody for failing to surrender to a warrant, that was issued by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, back in 2012. according to the Associated Press, Assanges arrest was also related to a United States (US) extradition warrant. The US charged Assange with conspiracy to commit computer hacking for his ‘alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States’.
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A former GP practice manager has been fined for sending personal data to her own email account without authorisation, following an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Shamim Sadiq worked at Hollybrook Medical Centre in Littleover, Derby, but was suspended on 3 November 2017 for unrelated matters and dismissed later that month.
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The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) published a final rule implementing policy changes to procedures governing the provision of intraday credit to U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banking organizations (FBOs). The changes are intended to refine the methods for determining the level of intraday credit that these branches and agencies can receive from the Federal Reserve Banks.
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Commission helps Member States to better apply EU environment rules to protect citizens and enhance their quality of life. The Commission published the second Environmental Implementation Review, part of its initiative launched in 2016 to improve the implementation of European environmental policy and commonly agreed rules in all EU Member States.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the former CFO and two former employees of a publicly traded transportation company with fraud for manipulating the company’s financial results in order to meet earnings targets and projections. The SEC alleges that Peter Armbruster, the former CFO of Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc., hid incurred expenses by improperly deferring and spreading them across multiple quarters to minimize their impact on Roadrunner’s net earnings. Armbruster then allegedly manipulated certain reductions to liabilities, creating an income “cushion” that could be accessed in future quarters to offset expenses. 

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) begins regulating the claims management industry from 1 April. All claims management companies (CMCs) in England, Scotland and Wales will now have to demonstrate they meet and maintain minimum standards set by the FCA. All existing and new CMCs will need to apply to the FCA for authorisation. More than 900 CMCs have registered for ‘temporary permission’ to continue operating while they go through the FCA authorisation process.
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The European Commission has launched an infringement procedure by sending a Letter of Formal Notice to Poland regarding the new disciplinary regime for judges. The Polish government has 2 months to reply. The new disciplinary regime undermines the judicial independence of Polish judges by not offering necessary guarantees to protect them from political control, as required by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Firstly, the Commission is of the opinion that Poland failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 19(1) of the Treaty on European Union read in connection with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which enshrine a right to an effective remedy before an independent and impartial court.
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