Tuesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, Trump, RBS, algos
MPs have accused the “big four” accountancy firms of “feasting on what was soon to become a carcass” as it emerged they banked £72m for work linked to collapsed government contractor Carillion in the years leading up to its financial failure. Less than a fortnight before Carillion’s auditor KPMG is due to face questions from MPs on two select committees, the accountant and rivals Deloitte, EY and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) submitted evidence to the inquiry. – Guardian
Donald Trump unveiled a $200bn plan to fix America’s crumbling infrastructure – a plan that falls woefully short of the trillions civil engineers say is needed to rebuild the country’s tattered backbone and is likely to face intense opposition from Democrats and Republicans. Trump said in a statement: “We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways, and waterways all across our land. And we will do it with American heart, and American hands, and American grit.” – Guardian
Major energy suppliers may be stripped of the right to challenge an unfair energy price cap after a group of MPs suggested an appeal process could be used as a delaying tactic. The parliamentary committee for business defied regulatory convention by saying energy companies should not be allowed to appeal the regulator’s set price for standard energy tariffs with the Competition and Market Authority. – Telegraph
A Network Rail body will add an extra layer of scrutiny to new rail franchise bids to make sure that plans by operators are workable, in the wake of the collapse of the East Coast mainline contract. The recently launched body, called the System Operator, will sit within Network Rail and is likely to have a busy few years with new contracts set to start on East Midlands and Southeastern in 2019 and on the West Coast mainline in 2020. – Telegraph
The City regulator’s shambolic handling of its investigation into Royal Bank of Scotland’s restructuring unit took an anarchic twist last night as the confidential report was leaked online. The highly sensitive 361-page document was sent initially to more than 500 members of a group who want to sue RBS over the activities of its Global Restructuring Group, which mistreated thousands of companies. – The Times
Banks and hedge funds have been ordered to tighten their controls over computer-driven trading, only days after algorithmic trades were blamed for exacerbating stock market falls in the Wall Street sell-off. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority each issued papers yesterday aimed at forcing firms into improved procedures to guard against computer-driven crashes and market abuse. – The Times