Over the past year, competition authorities globally have continued to make a move towards more stringent merger control enforcement. This follows an increasingly shared view among authorities and politicians across multiple jurisdictions that excessive consolidation in certain industries has been exacerbated in the past by a lenient approach to merger control enforcement.

As cryptocurrencies evolve from a debated anomaly to a mainstream asset class, securing recognition and regulatory approval, the crypto industry's resilience, likened to cockroaches in their endurance, challenges global authorities to adapt and collaborate in the face of a transformative financial landscape

The FCA has expressly acknowledged the overlap between the FCA’s existing MiFID II-derived rules on the manufacture of investment products in its Product Intervention and Product Governance Sourcebook (PROD) and the new Consumer Duty provisions on manufacturer product governance arrangements.

In early July 2024, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) published its latest Regulation Plan (2024 Regulation Plan), which sets out its focus areas for the financial sector regulatory framework for the next three years.

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) reviewed its VAT registration process in May this year, following an unusual increase in the number of VAT registrations and a significant spike in suspicious registrations. With immediate effect, SARS implemented changes to the VAT registration process in order to scrutinise new VAT registration applications more stringently.