By: Maria Ward-Brennan

Professional Services Editor Maria Ward-Brennan is the Professional Services Editor at CityAM, focused on law, Big Four, and other management and accounting consulting firms. She was previously a litigation reporter at The Lawyer. Contact her via email at [email protected] or X (Twitter) @MariaW_B.

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Regulator fines PwC £95m over Chinese Evergrande audit

April 23, 2026

The Hong Kong regulator fined PwC Hong Kong a landmark HK$1bn (£95m) for its role as auditor for the now-liquidated property giant, China Evergrande Group. Back in Janaury 2023, PwC resigned as Evergrande’s auditor following a series of disagreements with the heavily-indebted property developer over its audit of the firm’s 2021 accounts. This came after [...]
AI-focused services make up 40 per cent of BCG’s 2025 revenue

April 23, 2026

The global revenue of the consultancy group Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reached $14.4bn (£10.6bn), a single-digit increase over the previous year, credited to AI. BCG reported seven per cent global revenue growth, rising to $14.4bn in 2025 from $13.5bn in 2024, marking its 22nd consecutive year of growth. The firm said its AI-and tech-focused services [...]
Asos shares uptick despite narrowing losses

April 23, 2026

Asos shares are up by more than 3 per cent on Thursday as the online fashion giant focuses on efforts to bear down on its losses. The group cut its pre-tax loss by more than £100m to £137.9m for the six months to the beginning of March, while revenue slid 14 per cent to £1.1bn. [...]
The AI cracks are starting to show at law firms

April 23, 2026

Law firms have poured vast sums into AI in a race to modernise, but ‘hallucinations‘ and security concerns are exposing the technology’s risks, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. There has been intense pressure on legal, advisory, and consultancy firms to invest in, embed, and deploy AI over the last couple of years, but this pressure is now [...]
Eight London sites raided in peer-to-peer crypto trading bust

April 22, 2026

The City watchdogs, working with HMRC and the Regional Organised Crime Unit, have carried out the first crackdown on illegal crypto trading across multiple London locations. The enforcement targeted eight premises in London suspected of illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The traders were issued cease-and-desist letters at each site, notifying [...]
Elite law firm apologises for AI ‘hallucinations’ in bankruptcy case

April 22, 2026

An elite US law firm has had to apologise to a judge after its restructuring team made a filing in a high-profile case that contained multiple AI generated ‘hallucinations’. The head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s restructuring practice, Andrew Dietderich, apologised in a letter to the New York federal judge for mistakes that included misquoting the [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jitter as inflation surges; Trump extends ceasefire

April 22, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. Inflation has surged this morning follow the outbreak of war in Iran. Fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown the consumer price index rose by 3.3 per cent in the 12 months to March 2026. That’s up from three per cent [...]
Admiral CEO attributes FTSE giant’s staff retention to share awards scheme

April 22, 2026

FTSE 100 insurance giant CEO Milena Mondini tells senior reporter Maria Ward-Brennan that Admiral’s share awards plan has significantly contributed to staff retention. Admiral Group stands out as one of the UK’s most successful insurance companies, with an internal focus on staff retention and employee happiness. CEO Milena Mondini told CityAM, “We wanted people [...]
Trojan tools: AI is professional services’ newest cyber liability

April 21, 2026

As the UK government ramps up pressure on businesses to strengthen their cyber defences over Anthropic’s Mythos, professional services firms are already feeling increasingly anxious about cybersecurity. In the last month, a hacker gained access to one of Bain & Co’s internal AI tools, which followed another attack that exposed cybersecurity flaws in a system [...]
Clio founder: We may not have the hype of Jude Law, but our data beats any AI rival

April 21, 2026

Legal tech Clio’s boss tells senior reporter Maria Ward-Brennan that, with rivals closing in, the firm is betting that proprietary data, not hype, will determine its competitive edge in the AI race.In a competitive landscape, Clio founder and CEO Jack Newton believes his legal tech firm is in a “great position” in the marketplace, because [...]

Royal Ascot worth £140m to UK economy

Royal Ascot worth £140m to UK economy

The best places to eat sandwiches in Lisbon, from bifanas to pregos

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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