The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has made available The future of the consumer protection regime (8 February 2013), a speech delivered by OFT chief executive Clive Maxwell at the Trading Standards Institute Year Ahead Conference.

The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has made available OFT: Our competition role - and how things are changing (6 February 2013), a speech delivered by OFT chairperson Philip Collins to the Law Society of Scotland In-house Lawyers Group in Edinburgh.

The United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced that Swiss-based financial services company UBS AG (UBS) is to pay a fine and damages for its failures in the sale of the AIG Enhanced Variable Rate Fund (the Fund), which was suspended after AIG's share price collapsed during the global financial crisis (GFC). The FSA stated that UBS has been fined £9.45 million and is expected to pay approximately £10 million in compensation to customers who were mis-sold the Fund.

Barclays Bank (Barclays) chief executive Antony Jenkins has waived his bonus for 2012 in view of public interest and the "multiple issues ... making besetting the bank", concluding that "it would be wrong ... to receive a bonus". Reportedly, in addition to the £290 million fine to settle Libor rigging, Barclays has been accused of mis-selling interest rate swaps and payment protection insurance (PPI) and manipulating energy prices.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has called on the United Kingdom Government to grant powers to enforce the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations, which would allow Ofgem to take action against brokers mis-selling energy deals to businesses.

The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that it has refused to renew the credit licences of debt management companies Welcome Solutions Limited (WSL) and Debt Connect (UK) Limited (DCUL) and refused the application of trader Rowena Koning, in an attempt to lift standards in the sector.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced that new rules to control online behavioural advertising (OBA) have come into effect as of 4 February 2013. A form of targeted advertising, OBA "involves the collection of information from a computer's web browser ... about web viewing behaviour so that it can be used to deliver online advertisements that are more likely to be of interest to the user of that computer". According to ASA, the new rules require advertising networks delivering targeted advertisements to make it known to users that they are doing so as well as provide an opt-out tool.

The United Kingdom Financial Service Authority (FSA) has released Four building blocks of efficient capital markets (1 February 2013), a speech delivered by FSA markets director David Lawton at the Practising Law Institute Conference. Mr Lawton's discussion focussed on ethical market behaviour and effective corporate governance.
(Source: FSA)

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) has made available a letter (14 January 2013) announcing the release of Corporate Governance - Private Sector Consultation (undated), which sets out CIMA's proposals for enhancing the corporate governance regulatory framework.

The Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) has issued the following new Rules, both of which will commence on 1 February 2013:

AML/CFT (General Insurance) Rules 2012
The Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorist Financing (General Insurance) Rules 2012 (19 December 2012) apply to general insurance firms and address: