Tuesday newspaper round-up: Post Office, FCA, pensions watchdog
The Biden administration has proposed new rules that would in effect prohibit Chinese-made vehicles from US roads after a months-long investigation into software and digital connections that could be used to spy on Americans or sabotage the vehicles. The proposed rules come as Chinese automakers become more powerful in global markets, exporting a flood of high-tech vehicles and posing new challenges to western manufacturers, with governments fearing that installed sensors, cameras and software could be used for espionage or other data collection purposes. – Guardian
A lack of proper oversight across the City of London’s network of lawyers, bookkeepers and accountants is hampering efforts to crack down on dirty money being funnelled through the UK, the City watchdog has warned. The latest report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) flagged concerns over the work of the UK’s 25 professional bodies – which oversee the accounting and legal sectors – and found that some were spending as little as £73 a year on anti-money laundering supervision or were outsourcing it entirely to third parties. – Guardian
A Post Office director appointed to champion victims of the Horizon IT scandal has stepped back from the organisation’s board amid an investigation into alleged misconduct. Saf Ismail, a critic of Post Office management, said that he had temporarily given up his non-executive director duties at the scandal-hit service. The investigation emerged as Mr Ismail described a “culture of fear” in the organisation and claimed he had separately been targeted by managers for asking difficult questions. – Telegraph
The chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority did not follow the letter of the rules when he unmasked a whistleblower to senior colleagues, the regulator ruled today, as it revealed that a second whistleblowing complainant had experienced the same treatment. The findings on the conduct of Ashley Alder were made in a report by Richard Lloyd, the senior independent director on the FCA board. – The Times
The pensions watchdog has scrutinised every defined benefit scheme in the country over their exposure to the controversial investment strategy that blew up two years ago, as part of efforts to avoid a repeat of the fiasco. All 5,000 private sector defined benefit schemes and hybrid schemes in the UK were asked 23 questions about their use of leveraged liability driven investment funds (LDI) in a compulsory annual survey of the industry conducted by the Pensions Regulator this year. – The Times