the times | Monday May 23 2022 35
Business
¤commoditiescommodities currenciescurrencies
$
1.350
1.300
1.250
1.200$£/$
$1.2490 (+0.0246)
140
120
100
80Dow Jones
31,261.90 (-934.76)
36,000
34,000
32,000
30,0001.225
1.200
1.175
1.150£/€
€1.1826 (-0.0065) ¤Gold
$1841.22 (+28.57) $
2,200
2,000
1,800
1,600FTSE 100
7389.98 (-28.17)
8,000
7,500
7,000
6,500world markets (Friday’s close, change on the week)
Brent crude (6pm)
$111.58 (+0.25)Apr 19 29 May 7 15 Apr 21 29 May 7 15 Apr 19 29 May 7 15 Apr 21 29 May 7 15 Apr 19 29 May 7 15 Apr 19 29 May 7 15Gambling operators that breach social
responsibility and money-laundering
rules are set to face significantly higher
penalties based on a proportion of
customer takings.
The gambling industry regulator has
put operators on notice that it can no
longer tolerate “an attitude of lowest-
possible compliance being sufficient”
and will be introducing “a suite of sanc-
Tougher penalties loom for irresponsible betting companies
Dominic Walsh tions aimed at changing behavior”.
Writing in The Times today, Marcus
Boyle, 56, who became chairman of the
Gambling Commission in September,
says he has decided to take action after
recent investigations revealed “jaw-
dropping examples of substantial
amounts being taken from individuals
who cannot afford to wager such sums”.
He says sanctions are expected to in-
clude suspensions and loss of licence,
although the most eye-catching move
will impose fines based on a percentage
of punters’ takings. The move is
expected to lead to the average penalty
rising to tens of millions of pounds from
the single-digit millions at present.
Boyle says that in the past five years
the commission has increased sanc-
tions on transgressing bookmakers and
casino operators, both physical venues
and online operators, imposing fines
and penalties totaling about £130 mil-
lion, but he adds that “this is clearly nota sufficient deterrent”. The biggest
enforcement case came two years ago,
when Caesars Entertainment UK was
fined £13 million over “a catalogue of
social responsibility, money laundering
and customer interaction failures” at its
11 casinos in Britain.
The “systemic failings” at Caesars,
which also led to the departure of three
senior managers, included a failure to
check adequately on the source of
funds of a customer who gambled£3.5 million and lost £1.6 million over a
period of three months.
The worst repeat offender is 888
Holdings, the online operator, which in
2017 was forced to pay out £7.8 million
for failing vulnerable punters, then in
March this year was handed a fine of
£9.4 million over failings over money
laundering and social responsibility. In
the recent case, 888’s failures included
not carrying out customer interaction
Continued on page 36, col 5Robert Lea Industrial Editor
An ambitious and radical proposal to
turn the Dover Strait green and to allow
only fully electric ferries on the short-
sea Channel crossing will be put to the
government today.
The plan is for the routes between
Dover and Calais and Dunkirk to
become the first zero-carbon shipping
corridor in the world, with a new gener-
ation of ferries making the 22-mile
crossing on battery power and the ports
replacing their fuel bunkers with
industrial-size ship recharging points.
If the proposal is agreed, it is likely
that in time there will be a corollary
mandate to demand that heavy goods
and passenger vehicles using the port
and ferries also will have to be lower-
emission.
The three ports and P&O, DFDS and
Irish Ferries, the ferry operators, have
signed a declaration of intent to take
forward one of the key commitments of
last autumn’s Cop26 climate change
conference. The Clydebank Declara-
tion committed to “support the estab-
lishment of at least six green [maritime]
corridors by the middle of this decade”.
In letters to Alok Sharma, the presi-
dent of Cop26, and Grant Shapps, the
transport secretary, the ports and ferry
operators say they are ready to create
the first of those corridors with the
support of the British and French
governments. “This is the busiest mari-
time corridor in the world and conse-
quently carries a significant emissions
and pollution footprint — which can
and must be addressed,” the letters say.
Thirteen freight and passenger fer-
ries operate between the three ports,
with 100 crossings a day. At Dover one
ferry leaves every half-hour.
In the hugely complex and expensive
decarbonisation of the world’s shipping
fleets, the cross-Channel ferries are
seen as an obvious place to start
because of the shortness of the jour-
neys and the ability to recharge at each
terminal.
Hybrid super-ferries are to be intro-
duced by P&O on the routes next year
with vessels that can operate in zero-
emission mode when leaving the har-
bour but still rely on traditional fuels
once in the Channel.
Dover accounts for £144 billion of
trade in goods, 2.4 million freight vehi-
cles a year and up to 10,000 lorries a day— figures that are expected to rise. It
accounts for 33 per cent of the UK’s
trade in goods with the European
Union; 59 per cent of ferry journeys
between Britain and the EU; 31 per cent
of all HGVs leaving British ports; as well
as, at pre-pandemic levels, 11 million
people in passenger vehicles.
Crossing by ferry, 90 minutes at its
fastest, is significantly slower than
going through the Channel tunnel on
20-minute trains, but for freight com-
panies and holidaymakers it is cheaperKPMG is set to be hit with another
penalty for questionable auditing amid
reports that it is to be fined up £4.5 mil-
lion over its work with Rolls-Royce
before 2017.
The Financial Reporting Council, the
accounting industry watchdog, is close
to announcing the conclusion of its
investigation into KPMG’s auditing of
the aircraft -engines company, Sky
News reported.
KPMG had been Rolls’s auditor since
1990, but lost the job soon after the
settlement in 2017 of bribery and cor-
ruption claims against the engineer
that spanned five continents and three
decades. Those settlements with the
Serious Fraud Office and the US De-
partment of Justice cost the company a
total of £670 million in fines.
News of an imminent announce-
ment comes after a damning indict-
ment of auditing practices at KPMG
over the collapse of Carillion and a
£14 million fine levied by the FRC this
month. It is understood that KPMG has
been fined £48 million by regulators
over the past five years.
This year alone it has been censured
and fined for its work on Revolution
Bars and Conviviality, the off-licence
chain. It is also under FRC investigation
over its auditing of the Eddie Stobart
trucking company after the business
fell into financial troubles.
It was reported by Sky that KPMG
could be facing fines of up to £4.5 mil-
lion over Rolls, though that figure could
be reduced depending on the level of its
co-operation with the regulator.
There was no immediate comment
from KPMG. When the FRC launched
its investigation in 2017, the auditor
said: “It is important that regulators
acting in the public interest should
review high-profile issues. We will
co-operate fully with the FRC’s
investigation, which follows the Serious
Fraud Office’s investigations into Rolls-
Royce. We are confident in the quality
of all the audit work we have completed
for Rolls-Royce.”KPMG faces
being hit with
further fine
Robert LeaRivals sign up for changes ‘by middle of decade’
Cross-channel ferries will
go electric, say operators
than using Le Shuttle. According to
Christian Pryce, chief commercial
officer at the Port of Dover, the ini-
tiative is not a demand for a “blank
cheque” from government, rather a
mandate to progress on the agreed
green energy and how to invest in the
power infrastructure needed.
He said any decision on restrictions
on non-low-emission lorries or cars
would be one for government, but said
there would be a role to “incentivise the
reduction” of inefficient vehicles.ALAMYCop26 called for six green shipping corridors and the cross-Channel ferry routes are regarded as an obvious place to start