Publication
What M&A trends will transform the 2024 insurance landscape?
It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
Global | Publication | June 22, 2018
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On June 19, 2018 the Financial Reporting Council’s Financial Reporting Lab (Lab) published a report on current developments in relation to blockchain, and on potential uses and impacts of blockchain on corporate reporting. This report forms part of the Lab’s wider project on the digital future.
The report notes that blockchain (also called a distributed ledger) is a type of shared database which creates a permanent record of transactions. Since it is distributed across a number of participants in a network and is not under the control of a single participant, it is robust. This, combined with the fact that any changes made to the data are clear to all participants, ensures both the data and the network are resilient. As a result, the report comments that blockchain is different from a traditional database because of the way it creates trust and resilience and it looks at whether blockchain could solve some of the existing corporate reporting challenges, which include:
The report concludes that while blockchain is not the only possible answer (or even the best), it does have the potential to solve some of the challenges in the stages of corporate reporting as follows:
As a result, the report suggests that blockchain merits consideration and experimentation by preparers, regulators and users of corporate reporting and it sets out specific actions for each of these different parties in order to take blockchain forward..
(FRC, Financial Reporting Lab report – blockchain and the future of corporate reporting, 19.06.18)
On June 22, 2018 the Financial Reporting Council’s Financial Reporting Lab (Lab) published a report setting out the views of investors on the reporting of performance metrics. The reports includes a framework and set of questions for companies and boards to consider when deciding on how they report the company’s performance.
“Performance metrics”, for the purposes of the report, means all forms of metric a company might disclose to provide information about its performance, position and prospects, including financial metrics (GAAP and non-GAAP) and wider metrics (standardised and company specific). The report considers investors’ use of performance metrics and notes that investors want to see the following:
The next phase of this project, including examples of how companies have put the principles in the report into practice, will be published in Autumn 2018.
(FRC, Financial reporting Lab, Reporting of performance metrics, 22.06.18)
Publication
It is widely accepted that 2023 was one of the worst years in recent memory for M&A activity.
Publication
The ongoing conflicts and further geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, coupled with upcoming elections in a number of key countries including the US and the UK, make 2024 challenging to predict what impact this will have on the insurance sector.
Publication
On 6 September 2022, the European Commission (EC) prohibited Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, bringing to an end the administrative stage of a legal saga that has attracted interest beyond competition law specialists.
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