Wednesday newspaper round-up: Female directors, Oatly, accounting watchdog

London has overtaken New York as home to the highest concentration of dollar millionaires in the world, according to a report that reveals how much money the very richest people in the world have made during the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 875,000 Londoners are dollar millionaires (denoting assets worth more than £720,000), according to an annual study of the fortunes of the world’s wealthiest people by the property consultants Knight Frank. - Guardian

The number of female directors at FTSE-100 firms has increased by 50% in the last five years, and women now hold more than a third of roles in the boardrooms of Britain’s top 350 companies, according to the final report of a review into female representation at the top of business. Although men still dominate the top ranks of business, the government-backed Hampton-Alexander review has achieved its target of 33% of board positions at FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 firms being held by women by the end of 2020. - Guardian

Oatly, the Swedish non-dairy milk maker backed by Oprah Winfrey, is set to go public with a New York listing that could value it at up to $10bn (£7.1bn). The company, whose products are sold in more than 20 countries, said it had submitted plans to go public less than a year after securing investment from celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z in a funding round led by buyout firm Blackstone. - Telegraph

Britain’s accounting watchdog has announced new rules to separate further the audit and consulting arms of the Big Four firms. KPMG, EY, Deloitte and PWC are in the process of building walls between their audit and advisory teams on the orders of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The FRC announced the planned operational separation of the firms in July. The measures, which must be in place by June 2024, are aimed at preventing a repeat of accounting scandals in recent years at companies including Carillion and Patisserie Valerie. - The Times

FTSE 350 companies that are not doing enough to improve diversity on their boards could face a shareholder revolt at their annual meetings this year. The Investment Association, which runs IVIS, a paid-for information service on listed companies, said that for this year’s AGM season it would issue an “amber-top” tag for companies that do not disclose the ethnic diversity of their board, or do not have a credible action plan to achieve targets of having at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021. - The Times