The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its final decision to designate Google as having strategic market status in general search services, covering both general search and search advertising activities. This decision follows an investigation and stakeholder consultation, concluding that Google holds substantial and entrenched market power, with over 90% of UK search queries and more than £10bn spent by UK firms on its search advertising in 2024. The designation includes Google Search (with AI Overviews and AI Mode), Discover, the News tab and Top Stories carousel, but excludes Google News and the Gemini AI assistant. The CMA found that Google's dominance is reinforced by its data advantages, distribution agreements and integration with products like Android and Chrome.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a letter sent to Open Banking Limited (OBL) following an update from OBL on the status of remaining items in the Open Banking Roadmap. The CMA has determined the Roadmap to be complete, noting that Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland have completed the implementation of Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) for Sweeping and have been released from the Managed Roll Out (MRO) process.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has extended the deadline for the consultation on its draft guidance and rules to exercise the new direct enforcement powers provided to the CMA regarding consumer protection law under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The consultation, previously ending on 11 September 2024, now ends on 18 September 2024.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its final decision on the cloud services market investigation, finding adverse effects on competition (AECs) in UK markets. The CMA recommends using digital markets powers to designate Microsoft and AWS with strategic market status (SMS). The investigation identified three AECs: market concentration and barriers to entry, technical and commercial barriers to switching/multi-cloud usage, and Microsoft's licensing practices. UK cloud services spending reached £10.5bn in 2024, with Microsoft and AWS holding [30-40]% market shares each. The CMA Board will consider commencing SMS designation investigations in early 2026, with implementation through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its summary of consultation responses to its consultation on proposed updates to its leniency and no-action guidance for cartel cases (CMA210) held between 29 April and 9 June 2025, which sought views on revisions to its previous leniency guidance (OFT1495) to reflect legislative developments, policy experience, and procedural refinements. Overall, respondents supported those updates to the guidance which bring it up to date and provide additional detail on the CMA’s practice, but expressed reservations on certain policy changes such as removing the possibility of upfront Type B immunity; removing ‘leniency plus’ where only a Type B marker is obtained in a second market; making CDO immunity for directors of Type B and Type C applicants discretionary and potentially decided later in the process; and limiting criminal immunity for employees and directors of Type B and Type C applicants to exceptional circumstances.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found breaches of the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 by Barclays and Santander. Each bank has agreed to take action to prevent a recurrence. The CMA found breaches of Part 5 (Payment Transaction Histories) by Barclays and Part 2 (Open Banking) by Santander.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has conducted a comprehensive review of loyalty pricing in UK supermarkets. The CMA's analysis of 50,000 products revealed that 92% of loyalty-priced items offered genuine savings against usual prices, with average discounts ranging from 17-25%. The review found no evidence of supermarkets inflating 'usual' prices to enhance the appeal of loyalty promotions. While the CMA identified no consumer law concerns regarding data usage in loyalty schemes, it suggested improvements in scheme accessibility for certain consumer groups, such as those without smartphones and under-18s.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has identified potential consumer protection law breaches by Ticketmaster regarding its sale of 900,000 Oasis concert tickets. The investigation focuses on misleading 'platinum' ticket labelling and insufficient pricing information disclosure. The CMA is consulting with Ticketmaster on required changes to its processes ahead of new enforcement powers taking effect from 6 April 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which will allow direct enforcement and fines up to 10% of turnover without court intervention.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has fined ComparetheMarket £17.9m for using clauses in contracts with home insurers that breached competition law. A CMA investigation concluded that the price comparison website ComparetheMarket breached competition law between December 2015 and December 2017 by imposing most favoured nation clauses on sellers of home insurance using its platform. The clauses prohibited home insurers from offering lower prices on other comparison websites.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed a £473,000 penalty on Euro Car Parks Limited for failing to respond to an information notice issued in July 2025, representing the first use of the CMA's fining powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA 2024). The penalty was issued under Schedule 5 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, as amended by the DMCCA 2024, and represents 75% of the maximum possible fixed charge. The CMA said Euro Car Parks failed to respond to the notice for three months despite seven separate attempts to secure a response. The company later stated that it had blocked the CMA's emails because it believed them to be fraudulent, which the CMA did not accept as a reasonable excuse. Euro Car Parks has appealed the decision to the High Court, which has refused the company's application for an injunction to prevent the CMA from naming it.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has fined ten car manufacturers, including BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen, along with two trade bodies, over £77m for breaching competition law related to vehicle recycling and advertising claims. These manufacturers illegally agreed not to compete in advertising the recyclability of their vehicles and colluded to avoid paying third parties for recycling customers’ scrap cars. Mercedes-Benz, which was also involved in these agreements, is exempt from penalties as it informed the CMA of its participation under the authority’s leniency policy. The European Commission conducted a parallel investigation in 2022 and has now imposed fines for violations of EU law.

The Competition and Markets Authority has published an interim report on the UK civil engineering market for public roads and railways, provisionally finding that high costs, low investment, funding uncertainty, procurement weaknesses and regulatory barriers are contributing to poor outcomes that hinder growth and productivity, and has launched a consultation on potential remedies, with views due by 28 January 2026 ahead of final recommendations expected in spring 2026.