| April 28, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
Publisher
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today's lead story tells the tale of the single largest fine in CFTC history, $3.4 billion, for a South African CEO who bamboozled at least 23,000 people out of 29,421 Bitcoin in a retail foreign exchange fraud case. That is an incredible number of people to have been talked out of their Bitcoin for a commodity pool program involving a "bot." My neck hurts from shaking my head at this story so much. The numbers are just amazing. The level of stupidity is just amazing.
While CFTC Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger was giving the fireside chat at the Options Industry Conference yesterday, her colleague Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero was at the Consensus Conference giving a keynote address. The speech was titled "Illicit Finance and Other Key Risks of Digital Assets: Keynote at City Week 2023."
Nodal Exchange's environmental markets hit 250,000 contracts of open interest on April 25, marking a milestone that began with the first listings in November 2018.
OCC's Anum Sundrani was recognized as a Built In 2023 Moxie Award winner. OCC shared in a LinkedIn post that "Anum embodies the skills, leadership and accomplishments of a rising woman in tech - and uses those strengths to make impactful contributions." All of the 2023 Moxie Award winners can be found HERE.
USS Enterprise Captain James Tiberius Kirk is now an NFT grifter. The actor William Shatner, who played the fictional character in the Star Trek television and original movies, unveiled his "Infinite Connections" NFT collection during the Consensus conference, CoinDesk reported.
The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development will hold a hearing titled "The Future of Digital Assets: Identifying the Regulatory Gaps in Spot Market Regulation" on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 02:00 ET. The witness list includes Daniel Davis, partner, co-chair, Financial Markets and Regulation, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP; Purvi Maniar, deputy general counsel, FalconX Holdings, Ltd., Nilmini Rubin, head of Global Policy, Hedera; Timothy Massad, research fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, director, M-RCBG Digital Assets Policy Project; and Joseph A. Hall, partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
A Bloomberg headline had me confused. The headline is "Harley-Davidson Says Repo Shortage Is Fueling Credit Losses." Now I assumed the repos were repurchase agreements for some kind of financial instruments. Actually, the repo shortage is a lack of people to repossess Harley Davidson motorcycles from people who have not made their payments. Repo shortage. Ha, Bloomberg, you got me.
Congratulations to Chicago financial journalist Gail MarksJarvis for receiving the "Distinguished Achievement Award" for financial journalism from The Association for Business Journalist Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing at the fine organization's annual conference.
The Options Conference wraps up today in Nashville. Cheryl and I are sticking around for one more night of heading down Broadway to listen to music at the myriad of bars and saloons there. It has been a good conference. We shot a good number of videos, though two were canceled at the last minute. Alex Teng had a great time at his first out-of-town conference and enjoyed connecting with many of the people he had interviewed or learned from during his time doing the Options Discovery video program. Robby Lothian was stellar in his video production and we did not have any repeat of the failed SD card problems we had at FIA Boca. All in all, I was very pleased, though I do miss some of the old timers who don't attend the conference anymore.
The word is that the OCC is going to settle on two locations to alternate between for future conferences so they can negotiate a better deal with the hotels. We will see today what is announced when the location of next year's conference is announced.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Scila's Alex Lamb talks with John Lothian News about his strategy for the Americas and what sets Scila apart from others
JohnLothianNews.com
Alex Lamb, head of the Americas at Scila Inc., talked with John Lothian News at the FIA International Futures Conference in Boca Raton, FL., about Scila's strategy for the Americas, how the company got its start, and what sets it apart from others that provide software tools for identifying market abuse, risk, or operational errors.
Watch the video »
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The dangers of letting AI loose on finance; We must recognise the stability risks - whether over-concentration or digital herding - as well as the benefits
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
In recent decades, a set of distinctive rituals has emerged in finance around the phenomenon known as "Fedspeak". Whenever a central banker makes a comment, economists (and journalists) rush to parse it while traders place investment bets. But if economists at the Richmond Fed are correct, this ritual could soon change. They recently asked the ChatGPT generative AI tool to parse Fed statements, and concluded that it "demonstrate[s] a strong performance in classifying Fedspeak sentences, especially when fine-tuned."
/jlne.ws/3Nh5pSJ
***** I have seen the movies on this. It is not a good idea.~JJL
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Have Zero-Dated Options Broken VIX?
Steve Sosnick - Traders' Insight
I receive all sorts of questions during any given week, but two options-related themes seem to be the most pressing: what are the risks of so-called "zero-dated" or "0DTE" options; and is the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) "broken"? Yet I've rarely had anyone ask me to consider the relationship between them. Well, whether or not you're asking, I'll address that point today.
/jlne.ws/424mBPh
****** You can't break the VIX, you can only stretch it.~JJL
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Win Bischoff, banker, 1941-2023; One of the great City characters, he righted both Citigroup and Lloyds during his six-decade career
Patrick Jenkins - Financial Times
Having spent his early years in wartime Germany, then apartheid South Africa, Sir Win Bischoff's life was perhaps always destined to put him at the centre of things. His six-decade banking career did just that, taking him to pre-handover Hong Kong, boomtime New York and Big Bang London. But Bischoff, who has died at the age of 81, really made his mark as a stalwart in the troubled period after 2008, helping to steer both Citigroup and Lloyds back from the brink of collapse.
/jlne.ws/3NoPnpM
****** I know a great character when I see one. It takes one to know one.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top read story Thursday was Using crypto for crime is not a bug - it's an industry feature, an opinion piece from Jemima Kelly in the Financial Times. Second was a tie between Deutsche Boerse offers $4.3 billion for Denmark's SimCorp, from Reuters and JPMorgan Creates AI Model to Analyze 25 Years of Fed Speeches, from Bloomberg. Third was the John Lothian News video Aircarbon's Thomas McMahon Talks With John Lothian News About How ACX Meets Local And Global Needs, And The Future Of The Carbon Markets from our FIA Boca 2023 interview series.
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | Federal Court Orders South African CEO to Pay Over $3.4 Billion for Forex Fraud; CFTC's Largest Fraud Scheme Case Involving Bitcoin; Highest Civil Monetary Penalty Ordered in a CFTC Case
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced Judge Lee Yeakel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa. The order requires Steynberg to pay $1,733,838,372 in restitution to defrauded victims and a $1,733,838,372 civil monetary penalty, which is the highest civil monetary penalty ordered in any CFTC case.
/jlne.ws/41N2qpn
FTX Exchange Revival Is 'Impossibility,' Ex-Ally Scaramucci Says; Former FTX US head says there's value in salvaging technology; Scaramucci, Harrison comment at Consensus on FTX collapse
Yueqi Yang - Bloomberg
Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of SkyBridge Capital who was a business partner and ally of Sam Bankman-Fried, said a revival of the FTX exchange is unlikely to happen. FTX's new chief executive officer, John J. Ray III, has been assessing the idea of restarting FTX, and the current management plans to decide in the second quarter whether a restart is feasible. The legal team for FTX has warned that any restart would require a significant amount of capital.
/jlne.ws/3VdQjiC
Coinbase Responds to Wells Notice: SEC Risks Reputational Harm With Enforcement Action
Andre Beganski - Decrypt
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said Thursday that it has responded to a Wells Notice received from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging the agency not to pursue enforcement action against the company for the SEC's own sake. Coinbase is the leading cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. and became a publicly traded company when it was listed on the Nasdaq in 2021. The company argued that by allowing it to be listed on Nasdaq, the SEC implied that it did not think Coinbase's business was unlawful.
/jlne.ws/41MslO6
Deutsche Bank to Buy Numis in Surprise City of London Deal; German lender to pay £410 million, or 350 pence a share; Deal to help accelerate Deutsche Bank's growth in UK
Steven Arons and Tom Metcalf - Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG agreed to buy Numis Corp., one of the best-known UK boutiques, in an all-cash deal that could reshape the landscape of investment banking in the City of London.
/jlne.ws/3LfEgNd
****The Trade also has the story here.
Coinbase Warns SEC It Will 'Exhaust All Avenues' If Sued
Allyson Versprille - Bloomberg
Coinbase Global Inc. is making a last-ditch effort to dissuade the SEC from suing the firm, including sending a not-so-subtle reminder that it won't be easy to take down. In a lengthy response to the Securities and Exchange Commission's March Wells notice - which signaled the agency's plans to bring an enforcement action - the company said that it would be "a well-resourced adversary that will necessarily be motivated to exhaust all avenues."
/jlne.ws/3oSv0as
Coinbase Vows to Fight Potential SEC Action. What It Means for Crypto.
Joe Light - Barron's
In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned Coinbase COIN +0.52% Global that it was likely to sue it for violating the law. On Thursday, Coinbase (ticker: COIN) released its 73-page response, broadly denying that it offers securities on its platform and setting the stage for a protracted legal battle that could determine the future of the crypto markets in the U.S.
/jlne.ws/3Nm7soG
'Coinbase does not list securities,' company tells U.S. regulator
Chris Prentice and Hannah Lang - Reuters
Coinbase Global has reiterated its view to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has not broken any securities laws in its formal response to a legal threat received from the regulator, the firm said on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/41MdmDO
SEC Is Alleging Legal Violations 'On the Fly,' Coinbase Says; The SEC last month warned the crypto exchange it may pursue an enforcement action.
Nikhilesh De - CoinDesk
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is making decisions about alleged legal violations "on the fly," crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) said Thursday. The San Francisco-headquartered platform pushed back against the SEC in a document this month, made public for the first time on Thursday, in responding to a Wells Notice - a formal warning from the SEC that the Enforcement Division found sufficient proof of lawbreaking that it may recommend a lawsuit against the exchange.
/jlne.ws/3VbgPcB
Deutsche Bank says it was hit by a 'speculative attack' during turmoil; German lender's clients pulled more than EUR 7bn in late March after sharp drop in share price
Olaf Storbeck - Financial Times
Deutsche Bank has said a "speculative attack" that sent its share price tumbling last month prompted customers to pull money from Germany's largest lender, underlining the depth of the turmoil that swept the sector. James von Moltke, the bank's chief financial officer, on Thursday said the bank had been a victim of an attack that triggered "sentiment-driven outflows" in the days after Swiss regulators engineered the sale of Credit Suisse to UBS on March 19.
/jlne.ws/3VlYxW3
US regulators to release reviews of largest bank failures since 2008 crisis
Ann Saphir and Hannah Lang - Reuters
U.S. regulators are set to release confidential details of their oversight of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the run-up to the sudden collapses of the regional lenders last month, even as another large financial institution's struggle for survival in the wake of those implosions plays out in real time.
/jlne.ws/3ADS1jO
Swiss National Bank seeks banking regulation review after Credit Suisse crash
Reuters
Swiss banking regulation and supervision must be reviewed following the collapse of Credit Suisse, Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan said on Friday, although he warned against "quick fixes."
/jlne.ws/3Nk6toM
World's biggest bond markets left picking up the pieces after March mayhem
Yoruk Bahceli and Davide Barbuscia - Bloomberg
In mid-March, as prices for U.S. Treasury bonds swung wildly following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the trading desk at Legal & General Investment Management hit its top limits for both profit and loss several times in a single day.
/jlne.ws/3LC5DlU
Fugitive CEO Ordered to Pay $3.4 Billion in Record Fraud Case Involving Bitcoin; South African executive arrested and being held in Brazil; More than 23,000 people in the US were defrauded in the scheme
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
A US judge has ordered a South African executive to pay more than $3.4 billion in restitution and fines for a fraud scheme involving Bitcoin - the highest-ever civil monetary penalty in any US Commodity Futures Trading Commission case. Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, the founder and chief executive officer of Mirror Trading International Proprietary, committed fraud tied to retail foreign-currency transactions, among other violations, the agency said in a statement that announced the order by US District Judge Lee Yeakel.
/jlne.ws/3Vbo5oN
First Republic works on plan to prevent government seizure; Advisers to embattled Californian lender must overcome scepticism in Biden administration
Brooke Masters, James Fontanella-Khan, Stephen Gandel, Colby Smith and James Politi - Financial Times
First Republic's advisers are working on a private-sector solution they hope can overcome scepticism in Washington and keep the embattled California bank from being shut down by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Three people close to the situation said there had been a shift in tone among the bank's advisers compared with Tuesday and Wednesday when First Republic's shares fell 65 per cent and fears grew that it was close to being taken over by the FDIC.
/jlne.ws/3LzCKaa
First Republic Is in Limbo; Also FDIC insurance arbitrage and crypto money market funds.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
"Do something" is obviously bad. First Republic's balance sheet shows about $233 billion of assets, including about $173 billion of loans, but the market value of those assets is considerably lower: Those loans are largely mortgages made at very low interest rates, and they have lost a lot of value as rates have gone up. First Republic estimated as of Dec. 31 that its assets were worth about $27 billion less than their carrying value. So figure its assets are worth something like $206 billion on a good day.
/jlne.ws/3HpUoKX
Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame's House Searched by FBI; Salame's home in Maryland was searched on Thursday morning; He was among FTX's top political donors with Sam Bankman-Fried
Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
Former FTX executive Ryan Salame's home was searched by FBI agents as part of the sweeping investigation into the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse and its attempts to exert political influence in Washington. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents went to Salame's Maryland home on Thursday morning, according to people familiar with the matter. It wasn't immediately clear what the agents were looking for.
/jlne.ws/3LDfkka
How to make US money market funds safer; Oversight needs to balance risks against the importance of non-bank institutions
Financial Times
In the rough and tumble of financial markets, one player's loss is often another's gain. That is certainly true for US money market funds. Last month, as depositors fretted over the safety of their funds in the banking system, particularly in shaky regional lenders, they shifted their cash into MMFs at a rapid rate, with inflows of roughly $370bn.
/jlne.ws/3VgkS7B
Coinbase Armed for Legal Clash Over How Crypto Is Regulated; Facing possible SEC lawsuit, biggest U.S. exchange questions how regulators flex authority over digital-asset industry
Dave Michaels and Paul Kiernan - The Wall Street Journal
Coinbase Global Inc. said Thursday it would fight the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's claim that much of its business is illegal and try to convince a court that Wall Street regulators lack the authority to oversee cryptocurrency markets. The company outlined its legal strategy in a memorandum that formally responded to the SEC's earlier notice of a potential enforcement action against the company.
/jlne.ws/3AzpNXy
Fireside Friday with... Newton Investment Management's Neil Bond; The TRADE speaks to Neil Bond, trader and equities market specialist at Newton Investment Management, about developments in the algo space, tapping into alpha generating opportunities and hurdles that algos currently face.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
/jlne.ws/3oSjGLp
CryptoUK Publishes Response To HMT Cryptoassets Consultation Paper
MondoVisione
CryptoUK, the trusted voice of the UK crypto industry, has today published a detailed response to His Majesty's Treasury's (HMT) Future Financial Services Regulatory Regime for Cryptoassets consultation paper. Consultation proposals included strengthening rules for crypto trading platforms and a robust world-first regime for crypto lending. The consultation began in February and will close on 30 April, after which, the government will consider feedback and work to set out its consultation response.
/jlne.ws/3NoOw8z
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Fed's Jerome Powell Tricked by Russian Pranksters Posing as Zelenskiy
Bloomberg
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell held a call with a pair of Russian pranksters posing as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to video shown on Russian state television. Apparently thinking he was speaking to Zelenskiy, the video shows Powell answering questions on topics ranging from the outlook for inflation to the Russian central bank. There were several clips lasting about 15 minutes and it's unclear if the footage was altered.
/jlne.ws/3Nlo6ET
Death Toll Rises After Russia Launches Deadly Aerial Assault on Ukraine; At least 18 are killed in strikes on civilian targets; Ukraine says its air defenses shot down missiles, drones
Olesia Safronova - Bloomberg
Russia unleashed a fresh wave of aerial attacks across Ukraine, killing at least 18 people in two cities and destroying several buildings. Explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, marking the first assault there in more than a month.
/jlne.ws/3LFaQK4
Russian Oil Still Powering Europe's Cars With Help of India; India is importing record amounts of Russian crude oil; Nation has simultaneously become Europe's top fuel supplier
Prejula Prem and Sharon Cho - Bloomberg
Russian oil is still powering Europe - just with the help of India. Back in December, the European Union barred almost any seaborne crude oil imports from Russia. It extended the prohibition to refined fuels two months later.
/jlne.ws/44cZZOE
Russia Eyes Range of Options to Get Extra Cash From Oil Firms; Options include changes to fuel-subsidy formula, windfall tax; Government discussions ongoing, there is no final decision yet
Bloomberg News
Russia's government is turning again to its oil industry for cash, exploring options from cutting fuel subsidies to a windfall tax as it seeks to boost budget revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/41MeDe4
Ukrainian Grain Is Needed - But Not in Eastern Europe; The European Union needs to compensate farmers in Eastern Europe for the flood of imports hurting prices.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3oSdCmh
Ukraine Is Running Out of Ammo. So Is the US.; America's industrial base is struggling with supply chains and a shortage of workers while the Pentagon contracts are piling up.
James Stavridis - Bloomberg (opinion)
/jlne.ws/4251PPB
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Deutsche Boerse to Buy SimCorp in $4.3 Billion Software Push; Transaction set to be biggest for German exchange operator; SimCorp to be grouped with businesses that may see an IPO
Christian Wienberg and Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
Deutsche Boerse AG will buy Danish financial software maker SimCorp A/S for about EUR3.9 billion ($4.3 billion) to expand its data and analytics business, in a deal poised to be the exchange operator's biggest acquisition to date. The German company will pay 735 kroner ($109) a share in cash, a 39% premium to Wednesday's closing price, according to a statement. SimCorp said separately that its board recommends shareholders accept the offer.
/jlne.ws/3oFmjzZ
Deutsche Borse Transforms Data & Analytics, Aims for IPO
Shanny Basar - Markets Media
Deutsche Borse has made an offer to buy SimCorp, a Danish front-to-back investment management platform, and also combine its data & analytics subsidiaries Qontigo and ISS into a new unit which will potentially be taken public in the medium term. On 27 April Deutsche Bourse said it will make an all-cash offer to buy SimCorp in its largest ever acquisition. SimCorp provides investment management software-as-a-service (SaaS) and business-process-as-a-service (BPaaS) solutions at scale.
/jlne.ws/3HmlYZC
Update on the CHESS Replacement Partnership Program
ASX
ASX today released details of proposed eligibility criteria for certain stakeholders to receive an incentive payment as part of the CHESS Replacement Partnership Program, ("Partnership Program"). In a message to stakeholders, ASX invited feedback on the proposed criteria ahead of making the first development incentive payment under the $70 million program.
/jlne.ws/351gPmZ
BME appoints Ignacio Gómez-Sancha as new Secretary to the Board of Directors; He replaces Luis MarÃa Cazorla, a prestigious jurist, after more than two decades in the post.
BME-X
BME today announced the appointment of Ignacio Gómez-Sancha as the new Secretary to the Board of Directors. Mr. Gómez-Sancha will replace Luis MarÃa Cazorla, who was appointed to this position in February 2002. The replacement will take effect on 1 July 2023 and is at Cazorla's request and in full agreement with BME.
/jlne.ws/41JXJMZ
LME Complaints Commissioner
London Metal Exchange
Summary 1. This Notice confirms that the LME has reappointed Mrs Rosalind Wright CB KC as the LME Complaints Commissioner for a further three year term with effect from 1 May 2023.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa
Moscow Exchange has updated the methodology for calculating currency fixings
MOEX
On June 1, 2023, a new version of the methodology for calculating the fixings of the Moscow Exchange, approved in accordance with the recommendations of the FX Market Committee, comes into force.
/jlne.ws/3VerD9K
Anticipated Contract Adjustment; Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI & FRT)Plan of Arrangement
TMX
The Bourse and CDCC wish to inform you that on April 4th, 2023, Thomson Reuters announced that a special meeting of shareholders will be held on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, where shareholders will be asked to approve the distribution of the Canadian Dollar equivalent of US $4.67 in cash per common share, and a consolidation of outstanding common shares (or "reverse stock split") on a basis that is proportional to the cash distribution.
/jlne.ws/3Ld0EH7
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Exchange Data International Introduces Email Alerts for the Worldwide Corporate Actions Service
Exchange Data International
Exchange Data International (EDI), a leading financial and economic data provider, has introduced Corporate Action Alert Files to accompany their Worldwide Corporate Actions Service for upcoming effective and ex-dates. The sheer volume of data covering public companies worldwide has made it challenging for financial market participants to keep up with all the activities undertaken by the corporate community.
/jlne.ws/41J4KOn
The Dark Side of TikTok | Episode 1
Bloomberg
TikTok's secret algorithm has been blamed for sending young users content that pushes some into a spiral of self-harm, disordered eating and suicide. In this episode of Bloomberg Investigates, we meet a 13-year-old girl recovering from anorexia nervosa and a former TikTok employee who reveals the warnings he gave colleagues about the app's algorithm.
/jlne.ws/3oPi2dw
AI Can Help Scientists Better Understand How the Universe Works; In this episode of AI IRL, Jackie Davalos and Nate Lanxon talk to a preeminent astrophysicist about how AI can unlock space exploration
Nate Lanxon and Jackie Davalos - Bloomberg
In Carl Sagan's 1985 novel Contact, radio astronomers picked up a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence purely by chance. Today, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says advances in artificial intelligence make it more feasible that any real first contact would result from our ability to listen to the entire cosmos simultaneously, leaving far less to blind luck.
/jlne.ws/3AyfqTY
AI wants to know what dove is; Robo-Fedwatchers are finally ready for the bigtime, says JPMorgan
Bryce Elder - Financial Times
The first instinct of a lot of academics, when given a natural language processor, is to feed it on something deeply unnatural. How else to explain the recent rash of research that pits AI against Fedspeak? To be fair, there are very good reasons for wanting to ignore central bankers, and the desire to delegate the chore of listening to their strangulated equivocalities predates ChatGPT by at least a century.
/jlne.ws/3Vd6LQ6
Robinhood Gives Users a New Way to Fund Their Web3 Wallets
Aoyon Ashraf - CoinDesk
The popular trading platform Robinhood Markets (HOOD) has unveiled "Robinhood Connect," a new feature for users to fund their Web3 wallets without having to leave a decentralized app (dapp) or be in their crypto accounts. Robinhood Connect will also let developers embed the feature directly into their dapps, so that Robinhood users can buy, transfer and fund their self-custody wallets, the company announced at CoinDesk's Consensus 2023 conference in Austin, Texas.
/jlne.ws/3AEuDTv
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Hackers Are Finding Ways to Evade Latest Cybersecurity Tools
Jordan Robertson - Bloomberg
As hacking has gotten more destructive and pervasive, a powerful type of tool from companies including CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. and Microsoft Corp. has become a boon for the cybersecurity industry. Called endpoint detection and response software, it's designed to spot early signs of malicious activity on laptops, servers and other devices - "endpoints" on a computer network - and block them before intruders can steal data or lock the machines.
/jlne.ws/422Nx1W
NSA Cybersecurity Director Says 'Buckle Up' for Generative AI
Lily Hay Newman - WIRED
At the RSA security conference in San Francisco this week, there's been a feeling of inevitability in the air. At talks and panels across the sprawling Moscone convention center, at every vendor booth on the show floor, and in casual conversations in the halls, you just know that someone is going to bring up generative AI and its potential impact on digital security and malicious hacking. NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce has been feeling it too.
/jlne.ws/3ndX47E
Optiv Launches 'Data-Driven' Program For Cybersecurity Partnerships
CRN
Optiv announced a new partner program Thursday that brings a heightened focus on using data to drive growth along with improved cybersecurity for customers, executives told CRN. The program - which provides the basis for Optiv's partnerships with other companies, predominantly cybersecurity vendors - aims to provide a clear roadmap for working with the company to serve end customers, said Alan Mayer, senior vice president of partners, alliances and ecosystems at Optiv. The Denver-based security solutions and services provider powerhouse said it currently works with more than 450 partners.
/jlne.ws/426MU7z
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Coinbase rejects U.S. regulator's claim it broke rules on crypto
Chris Prentice and Hannah Lang - Reuters
Coinbase Global has reiterated its view to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has not broken any securities laws in its formal response to a legal threat received from the regulator, the firm said on Thursday. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said the crypto exchange would like to list securities in the future but would not feel comfortable given the regulatory uncertainty, in a response to the SEC made public on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4286L6a
Celsius Creditors Seek to Unmask 'Suspicious' FTX Crypto Trades; Celsius creditors seek info on users behind 10 FTX wallets; Creditors want to determine value of Celsius' native token
Jonathan Randles - Bloomberg
Celsius Network LLC creditors want a bankruptcy judge to help them unmask FTX users they allege were involved in suspicious cryptocurrency trades that may have manipulated the price of Celsius' native token last year. A committee representing Celsius creditors on Wednesday asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to subpoena FTX for information to identify users behind ten cryptocurrency wallets they say engaged in a pattern of suspicious trades of Celsius' so-called CEL coin between April and August.
/jlne.ws/44cL1Is
Scaramucci Recounts Harrowing Final Days of FTX, Visit to Bahamas to See Sam Bankman-Fried
Elizabeth Napolitano - CoinDesk
SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci recounted the time he spent with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas during the firm's harrowing final days, on Thursday during Consensus 2023. Scaramucci served as a mentor and business partner to Bankman-Fried, coordinating the crypto wunderkind's fundraising trips in North America and the Middle East before FTX's implosion.
/jlne.ws/3Hl80av
3 Giga-Brained Ideas From Consensus Day 2; Crypto shows that ideas can be valuable, even if they're not useful ... yet.
Daniel Kuhn - CoinDesk
One of the major selling points of crypto is that the industry is brimming with new ideas. For one reason or another, crypto tends to attract heterodox thinkers or would-be revolutionaries, much in the same way a loose-hanging community formed around the internet in the 90s. Part of this stems from the nature of the tech itself, which offers radically new ways to build code-based systems.
/jlne.ws/40KKwSL
Veteran Crypto Reporter Brady Dale Discusses New FTX Book
Daniel Kuhn - CoinDesk
Brady Dale is a crypto journalist and a former CoinDesker (now with Axios) with a book coming out about Sam Bankman-Fried and the fall of FTX. He said the book, "SBF: How the FTX Bankruptcy Unwound Crypto's Very Bad Good Guy," published by Wiley, is as much a success story about decentralized finance, or DeFi - the corner of the crypto economy that continued to lend, issue stablecoins and enable users to swap tokens even after their centralized counterparts choked.
/jlne.ws/41KIXG1
William Shatner Warps Into Web3 With 'Infinite Connections' NFT Release
Pete Pachal - Yahoo Finance
/jlne.ws/3VbJkqA
Binance says it built 700-member compliance team to handle crypto crime, legal enquiries
Danny Park - Forkast
/jlne.ws/44eORk7
ECB Probes Decentralized Settlement for Wholesale Financial Markets
Jack Schickler - CoinDesk
/jlne.ws/411RHXb
Coinbase CEO Follows Through With Stock Sale, COIN Investors Unfazed
Mathew Di Salvo - Decrypt
/jlne.ws/3NfGkHM
Hong Kong Seeks to Help Crypto Firms Escape Their Exile From the Banking Sector; City urges banks to open accounts for licensed crypto firms; Access to banking globally is hard for digital-asset companies
Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3ndNSQG
Bored Ape's New Boss Seeks to Revive NFTs Through Gaming, Events; Daniel Alegre joined Yuga Labs as its new CEO last month; CEO plans to open startup's Otherside to external developers
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3neoZEk
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Joe Biden urges Wall Street donors to fill $1bn-plus campaign war chest; Backers say president will have an incumbent's advantage in fundraising but see concerns about his age and popularity
FT Reporters
Joe Biden is racing to win early support from Democratic donors for his re-election bid, hoping to beat the $1bn haul he landed in 2020 ahead of what some pundits predict will be the most expensive presidential race in US history.
/jlne.ws/447KTd3
Renowned China investor Ray Dalio says the US and China are on the brink of war, and that both sides are 'beyond the ability to talk'
Matthew Loh - Business Insider
The US and China are on the brink of war, warned billionaire and renowned China investor Ray Dalio. Both sides are at severe risk of crossing each other's red lines, and diplomacy between them is clearly failing, Dalio wrote in a Thursday memo on LinkedIn.
/jlne.ws/3ndKq8G
UK's Sunak to Break Brexit Vow on Scrapping EU Laws by End 2023; Breaking pledge risks fueling fury of Tory Brexit supporters; Government may now focus on removing smaller number of EU laws
Alex Wickham - Bloomberg
The UK government has signaled it will break its pledge to carry out a "bonfire" of legislation dating from Britain's membership of the European Union, risking the fury of Conservative Brexit supporters.
/jlne.ws/3AUrkYB
UK Government Faces Fresh Calls to Scrutinize Regulators; Parliament and firms calling for changes to new legislation; Move marks change after government last year dropped 'call-in'
Katherine Griffiths - Bloomberg
The fight over who watches Britain's financial watchdogs isn't over yet. Members of the UK's House of Lords are preparing amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Bill that would boost oversight of regulators, while City of London groups are also lobbying the government on the issue. It became a hot topic last year when the government put the City of London at the heart of its post-Brexit growth strategy. To achieve that goal, the government said the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority should take international competitiveness into account.
/jlne.ws/3HhCmur
SNB Chief Wants Tougher Regulations After Credit Suisse Crisis
Bastian Benrath - Bloombewrg
The crisis at Credit Suisse Group AG shows the need for new regulations requiring banks to hold sufficient disposable assets at any time, Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan said.
/jlne.ws/3Hnqbwd
Europe Is Waking Up to Threat of an Eastern Version of Brexit; Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban likes to blame the EU for everything and concern is growing over a sharp drop in public support for the bloc.
Zoltan Simon - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41N2nK7
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Ex-CFO gets 3 years prison for stealing from SPACs to trade meme stocks, cryptocurrencies
Luc Cohen - Reuters
A former chief financial officer of multiple special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for embezzling more than $5 million from them, and losing almost all of it trading meme stocks and cryptocurrencies. Cooper Morgenthau, 36, of Fernandina Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January.
/jlne.ws/3LBqTZ3
Bitcoin Thief Photographed in Bathtub of Cash Gets Four Years; Gary Harmon stole 713 Bitcoin from IRS after brother's arrest; Harmon agreed to forfeit tokens, property worth $20 million
David Voreacos - Bloomberg
An Ohio man photographed lounging in a bathtub full of dollar bills must serve four years in prison for stealing 713 Bitcoin from a computer device seized by the government in a case against his older brother. Gary Harmon, 31, was sentenced Thursday by US District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, DC, where he pleaded guilty in January. He also agreed to forfeit crypto currencies and other property valued at more than $20 million, the US Justice Department said.
/jlne.ws/424o2x9
US court orders South African firm's CEO to pay $3.4 billion for bitcoin fraud
Kanishka Singh and Chris Prentice - CoinDesk
A federal judge in Texas ordered the head of a South African firm to pay a whopping $3.4 billion for what the U.S. commodities regulator said was its largest-ever fraud case involving bitcoin. Cornelius Johannes Steynberg was ordered to pay $1.7 billion in restitution to victims of the fraud scheme and another $1.7 billion as a civil penalty, a record for any Commodity Futures Trading Commission case, the regulator said in a statement on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3VgOukU
HKMA urges local banks to provide services to regulated digital asset firms
Tom Zuo - Forkast
Arthur Yuen, Deputy Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), has expressed disapproval of local banks taking a "one-size-fits-all" approach in assessing account opening applications from virtual asset-related firms, and urged banks to provide services to regulated firms, as the city seeks to encourage sustainable and responsible developments in the Web3 space.
/jlne.ws/428cxEY
Bank of Korea Edges Closer to Being Able to Investigate Crypto Firms: Report
Pedro Solimano - Decrypt
South Korea's central bank is a step closer to being granted powers to investigate digital asset platforms, according to a report from South Korean news outlet Herald Business.
/jlne.ws/3VluPRa
Ex-SPAC CFO Gets 3 Years in Scheme to Trade Meme Stocks, Crypto
Bob Van Voris - Bloomberg
The former chief financial officer for a group of special purpose acquisition companies was sentenced to three years in prison for a scheme to embezzle more than $5 million to trade in crypto assets and meme stocks.
/jlne.ws/3VfVvCz
Norway's $1.4tn wealth fund calls for state regulation of AI; CEO Nicolai Tangen says fund will set guidelines for companies it invests in on 'ethical' use of artificial intelligence
Richard Milne and Katie Martin - Financial Times
The head of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund has called on governments to speed up the regulation of artificial intelligence as it revealed it would set guidelines for how the 9,000 companies it invests in should use AI "ethically". Nicolai Tangen, chief executive of Norway's $1.4tn oil fund - which owns on average 1.5 per cent of every listed company globally - said he believed that there is not enough regulation of the fast-growing sector and that he wanted new rules to govern how AI is used.
/jlne.ws/3ACC65u
Eric R. Werner Named Director of Fort Worth Regional Office
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Eric R. Werner has been named Regional Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office, effective immediately. Mr. Werner is currently the Acting Co-Regional Director and has served as the Associate Regional Director of Enforcement in the Fort Worth office since 2018. He succeeds David L. Peavler, who left the agency in December.
/jlne.ws/3L701Pb
SEC Obtains Default Judgments Against Three Defendants in an Investment Fraud Scheme Involving Penny Stock Companies
SEC
On April 25, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgments against defendants Trends Investments Inc., Leslie Greyling and Brandon Rossetti, who were previously charged by the SEC with engaging in a scheme to defraud investors in private offers and sales of shares of two publicly traded penny stock companies.
/jlne.ws/3neP3PG
SEC Obtains Final Judgment from Former Executive for His Role in $100 Million Accounting Fraud
SEC
On April 21, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final judgment against Jeffrey Hastings for his role in a multi-year accounting fraud engaged in while he was CEO of Houston-based seismic data company SAExploration Holdings, Inc. (SAE). The SEC's amended complaint alleges that Hastings and three other former SAE executives falsely inflated the revenue of SAE by approximately $100 million and concealed their theft of millions of dollars from the company.
/jlne.ws/3LDBWBd
OPBAS publishes report on legal and accountancy sector supervision
FCA
In its fourth report, the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) has found that professional bodies are continuing to demonstrate good levels of compliance with money laundering regulations but improvements in how effectively they supervise have not been good enough.
/jlne.ws/3oKKdtT
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The Problem With the Retirement Age Is That It's Too High; The richest society in human history should prioritize earlier eligibility for Social Security.
Annie Lowrey - The Atlantic
As France is racked by furious protests over President Emmanuel Macron's plan for pension cuts, a bipartisan group of legislators on Capitol Hill is discussing how to make Social Security available to a smaller group of workers. People are living longer, the argument goes, and benefit programs are running out of money. Shifting the retirement age higher is a reasonable, desirable, and necessary fix.
/jlne.ws/3LynMkF
One-Day VIX Shows Market's Receding Fear of Inflation Data, Fed Decisions; Muted moves suggest influence from macro forces likely easing; Earnings in focus, adding to a retreat in stock correlation
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
As guarded as the reception has been to Wall Street's new fear gauge, the one-day VIX does appear to offer an interesting glimpse into a potential shift in the psychology of investors. Namely, diminishing anxiety over macroeconomic events such as inflation data and Federal Open Market Committee's policy meetings, which previously had been big instigators of turbulence. The fading fear is demonstrated by the Cboe 1-Day Volatility Index (ticker VIX1D)'s performance around these catalysts over the past year.
/jlne.ws/3HHYxu7
Opec accuses IEA of stoking 'volatility' in energy markets; Oil cartel's secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais says the agency is 'finger pointing'
David Sheppard - Financial Times
Opec has claimed the International Energy Agency's calls to halt investment in oil are triggering turmoil in energy markets, intensifying a war of words between producers and rich-world consumers. Opec secretary-general Haitham Al Ghais accused the IEA, which is funded by the OECD group of rich economies, of "finger pointing" after the agency warned the surprise production cuts announced by the oil cartel earlier this month risked exacerbating inflation.
/jlne.ws/40Im30t
Tradeweb Reports $1.4 Trillion Record Average Daily Volume
Tradeweb
Tradeweb Markets, a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. $329.2 million quarterly revenues increased 5.7% (7.5% on a constant currency basis) compared to prior year period $1.4 trillion record average daily volume ("ADV") for the quarter, an increase of 16.2% compared to prior year period, with record ADV in European government bonds, swaps/swaptions ≥ 1-year, fully electronic U.S. High Grade credit, equity convertibles/swaps/options, repurchase agreements, retail U.S. government bonds and retail money markets.
/jlne.ws/3nc4I2l
Spitzer's research settlement at 20; Did the Sheriff of Wall Street clean up equity research or create a new mess?
Craig Coben - Financial Times
Today is the 20th anniversary of the "Global Settlement of Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking". Heralded at the time as a landmark reform to clean up Wall Street, it will be a cause for no celebration today.
/jlne.ws/3VcRL4S
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Carbon Removal Projects Leap Forward With New Offset Deal. Will They Actually Help the Climate? Finance and insurance giants hope to offset their carbon emissions with "direct air capture" from a plant in Texas and smokestack carbon capture from Midwestern ethanol plants that would rely on a pipeline that may never be completed.
Nicholas Kusnetz - Inside Climate News
The open secret behind corporate climate pledges is that many companies don't know how they will meet them. Some of the biggest questions lie behind the "net" in net-zero, exactly how, where and when companies will compensate for the climate pollution that they fail to eliminate from their own operations.
/jlne.ws/3Azh5IX
Can Iceberg Surges in the Arctic Trigger Rapid Warming at the Other End of The World? New research shows a fast-acting climate connection between poles that may be driven by wind rather than by ocean currents.
Bob Berwyn - Inside Climate News
With the planet warming by a fraction of a degree every few years, glaciers melting away in a trickle and sea level rising two inches per decade, global warming sometimes seems to be happening at a slow and steady pace.
/jlne.ws/40ODxbs
Weather tracker: Spain's spring heatwave breaks April records; Maximum temperature at Córdoba of 38.7C is highest April temperature ever recorded in Europe
Tom Tobler and James Parrish - The Guardian
Spain has experienced a record-breaking spring heatwave over the past couple of days. A plume of hot, dry air originated over northern Africa, where it has already produced record April temperatures, and spread northwards across Iberia. This resulted in a maximum temperature of 38.7C at Córdoba airport on Thursday, the highest April temperature recorded in Europe. Portugal also beat its April temperature record on Thursday. The heat is expected to subside slightly into the weekend.
/jlne.ws/3LDEJKy
State leaders targeting climate investing have quiet stakes in the fossil fuel industry
Brian Schwartz - CNBC
A handful of state financial officers who have criticized environmental, social and governance investing own stakes in the fossil fuel industry, according to their financial disclosures. The investments could pose conflicts of interest, as those oil and gas companies could suffer from wider adoption of clean energy, according to ethics experts. Republicans have increasingly criticized ESG investing platforms and pulled state funds away from BlackRock and other firms that have adopted them.
/jlne.ws/3HJyGC3
FTC takes a microscope to sustainability claims
Debra Kahn And Jordan Wolman - Politico
Guiding Light - Companies are talking the talk on sustainability. The Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to make sure they're walking the walk, Jordan reports. As demand for sustainable products has skyrocketed, so have concerns about greenwashing. Public comments were due yesterday on the FTC's first update in 11 years of its "Green Guides," which are essentially advice for how companies can make environmental marketing claims. The nearly 60,000 comments shed light on what companies, industry trade groups and environmentalists are fighting over:
/jlne.ws/3LEwn5A
BP defends climate strategy at AGM clash; Provisional results show 17% of shareholders voted in support of activist resolution on matching Paris accord
Tom Wilson - Financial Times
BP went head to head with investors and campaigners at its annual meeting, claiming that its strategy was aligned with the Paris climate agreement despite having slowed the pace at which it will reduce oil and gas output this decade.
/jlne.ws/420UHUm
Climate protesters disrupt BP's shareholder meeting in London; Oil company's decision to water down climate commitments prompts backlash from investors at AGM
Jillian Ambrose - The Guardian
/jlne.ws/3nauofE
Interested but sceptical: What younger investors think about ESG; AIC canvasses investors and finds stereotypes don't always hold true
Nick Britton - ESG Clarity (opinion)
/jlne.ws/3NlJTw8
Rome's waste crisis turns into golden opportunity for Dutch; Mayor Roberto Gualtieri seeks to replace 'inefficient system' with long-term export contracts and new incinerator
Amy Kazmin and Andy Bounds - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3LA6bb5
Pension Funds Must Focus on Positives of TCFD
James Lawrence - ESG Investor (opinion)
/jlne.ws/3oRzm1x
What the US Can Learn From Europe's ESG Mistakes; The EU isn't worried about wokeness, but it's struggling to develop rules that would help investors avoid greenwashing.
Tasneem Hanfi Brogger - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/40NLuxQ
Total Asks Investors to Oppose Call to Cut Indirect Emissions; Some investors want oil company to target Scope 3 emissions; Pressure builds as some oil majors backslide on climate goals
Francois De Beaupuy - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3n9ajXf
Uncovering Climate Transition Risk in EU Sustainable Finance Regulation
Pooja Khosla and Nels Ylitalo - TabbForum (contributors)
/jlne.ws/3VbXHv5
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Why No Buyer Has Emerged for First Republic; An acquisition of the beleaguered bank could carry costs well beyond the initial sticker price
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journey
If another bank bought First Republic Bank for a single dollar, it could still end up costing that buyer tens of billions. For many years, First Republic had a sterling reputation as a fast-growth lender focused on a very desirable clientele-the affluent. One might think that such a franchise would fit well with any number of banks looking to grow businesses like wealth management.
/jlne.ws/3LzH2yj
The Surprising Risk That Turbocharged a $142 Billion Bank Run
Ben Cohen - The Wall Street Journal
Tony Cookson didn't know much about Silicon Valley Bank before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. When the economist became curious about the bank, he already knew what happened. He wanted to know how it happened and whether it's going to happen again. So he set out to answer what might be the most intriguing question about the bank run: Was it fueled by social media?
/jlne.ws/3HhnnRd
First Republic threatens to be the SVB of Wall Street; Plus, the bankruptcy case threatening to escalate creditor-on-creditor conflict
Financial Times
Wall Street risks losing its own version of Silicon Valley Bank. From Manhattan to Palm Beach and southern California, dealmakers favoured the same "if you know, you know" kind of lender to support the lifestyle of an up and coming Wall Streeter. San Francisco-based First Republic was for many banking and private equity executives what Silicon Valley Bank was to the venture capital industry. The lender was a one-stop shop for cheap credit to finance everything from purchasing a stake in a private equity fund to a multimillion-dollar beach house.
/jlne.ws/3NgZWv6
MUFG Says Credit Suisse AT1 Debt Sold to Help Clients Diversify
Takashi Nakamichi and Nao Sano - Bloomberg
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said its brokerage venture sold Credit Suisse Group AG's riskiest bonds to help clients diversify their portfolios, as the firm tries to explain what led to $700 million of losses for customers.
/jlne.ws/3nhjvsr
SMFG Ramps Up Wall Street Push With $3.4 Billion Jefferies Bet
Taiga Uranaka - Bloomberg
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.'s $3.4 billion bet on its alliance with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is the latest move by Japan's top banks to expand abroad as they they seek to work around tepid growth prospects at home.
/jlne.ws/3Vd1oQY
Deutsche Borse AG Announces Recommended All-cash Takeover Offer for Simcorp a/s, Intends to Combine Qontigo and ISS and Create New Investment Management Solutions Segment
Deutsche Borse Group
Frankfurt, Germany, and Copenhagen, Denmark, 27 April 2023 - Deutsche Börse AG and SimCorp A/S have today entered into a binding agreement, pursuant to which Deutsche Börse AG will make an all cash voluntary recommended public takeover offer to acquire all of the shares (except treasury shares) in SimCorp A/S at a price of DKK 735.0 per share, adjusted for any dividends or other distributions paid by SimCorp A/S prior to completion of the offer, valuing the entire issued capital of SimCorp A/S at EUR 3.9 billion. The offer price represents a 38.9 per cent premium and a 45.3 per cent premium to the closing share price of DKK 529.0 and 3-months volume-weighted average price of DKK 505.7 as of 26 April 2023, respectively. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and a minimum acceptance level of 50% plus one share of all SimCorp A/S shares as well as other customary conditions and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.
/jlne.ws/3oOwl22
Germans snap up British investment bank after slump in London floats
Simon Foy - The Telegraph
/jlne.ws/3oOjxsu
HSBC's Vanguard-style ETFs open door to potential wave of imitators; Launch in Ireland of four funds will be first to take advantage of rule change allowing umbrella structure
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3na96yL
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | The whistleblowing lessons from the CBI scandal; Companies should consider not just their policies but how they are being promoted and used
Helen Thomas - Financial Times
"Whistleblowing is good for business - responding effectively to concerns can save money and reputations and increase staff loyalty and productivity," says a guide for employers produced by charity Protect. No kidding. The CBI is fighting for survival following rape and sexual harassment allegations, the loss of (or suspension of engagement from) approaching 100 of its big-name members, and an admission that it failed to protect its staff, to train its managers, prioritise a healthy workplace culture, and get rid of toxic people.
/jlne.ws/3LgyB9H
Humanity has built AI in its own image, heaven help us; The first signs of the computer revolt are upon us. It is not so much mass extermination as quiet ridicule
Robert Shrimsley - Financial Times
I'm starting to wonder if my satnav is taking the piss. It's sending me on some very odd routes, not wrong exactly but definitely circuitous, almost as if it just fancies a glimpse of some areas not seen before. Either that or it's some new mapping software prank and somewhere there are a couple of iPhones secretly laughing at me.
/jlne.ws/3NhpyYR
JPMorgan employees gripe about return-to-office edict: 'Tone deaf'
Reuters
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sent a clear message to employees this month: Get back to the office. It touched a nerve among his staff. The largest US lender's employees inundated an internal messaging forum with criticism after its operating committee posted an edict entitled, "The importance of being together." Some staffers pushed back, calling the message "tone deaf" and "divisive."
/jlne.ws/3oTy99H
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Moderna tries to show it's not a 'one trick pony'; Covid vaccine maker is sitting on $18bn and embarking on a host of ambitious projects
Jamie Smyth - Financial Times
Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine saved millions of lives and made the biotech group one of America's fastest-growing companies. But a plunge in sales of the jab due to the easing of the pandemic could push Moderna back into the red this year, as it races to prove it is not a "one-trick pony" with a single product.
/jlne.ws/3Ve8u7P
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | India's Banks Have It All, Except Caution; Lenders are skimping on loss provisions when profitability is still strong. The strategy has backfired in the past.
Andy Mukherjee - Bloomberg
India's banks spent most of the last decade out in the wilderness, as a punishment for the lax underwriting standards on their corporate loans. Now they have regained their health, restored profitability and reestablished investors' trust. The benchmark Nifty Bank Index is close to an all-time high. With everything going well, the lenders should be turning cautious. But recent full-year results show an opposite trend: Provisions for future loan losses are beginning to decline. This may not be prudent.
/jlne.ws/3oQsSzW
China's Big Banks Post Scant Profit Gains as Margins Shrink; China's banks battle shrinking margins amid lending pressure; Lenders called on to support China's economic recovery
Bloomberg News
China's biggest lenders, including Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., eked out profit growth in the first quarter of 2023 as they wrestled with shrinking margins and the lingering economic impact of China's exit from Covid zero.
/jlne.ws/3HlrTy2
Russia's trapped domestic investors push stock market to 12-month high; Retail traders turn to dividend payers such as Sberbank and Lukoil
Daria Mosolova and George Steer - Financial Times
Russia's stock market has climbed to its highest level in more than a year as domestic retail investors with nowhere else to go snap up the dividend-paying stocks that sold off heavily following the invasion of Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3LfIG6L
Argentina Hikes Key Rate to Record High to Halt Peso Slump; Central bank raised rates by 10 percentage points to 91%; Second hike in two weeks as government vows to use all tools
Ignacio Olivera Doll and Patrick Gillespie - Bloomberg
Argentina's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 10 percentage points on Thursday as a renewed peso selloff in parallel markets adds to the sense of crisis in the South American nation. The board boosted its key Leliq rate to 91%, the bank said in an emailed statement Thursday, the highest in at least five years. The bank said its decision is aimed at seeking real positive returns on local currency investments and preserving monetary and financial stability.
/jlne.ws/42acI2N
Flooding on Upper Mississippi River to halt barge traffic for weeks -USDA
P.j. Huffstutter - Reuters
All barge traffic will be halted across a wide swath of the Upper Mississippi River for weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday, as record winter snowfall in the upper Midwest is now melting and flooding into waterways. The closures will force grain and fertilizer shippers to find alternative, potentially more costly, transportation by truck or rail, freight experts said.
/jlne.ws/3NjseF8
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Vice Ends Flagship Show, Cuts Jobs as Online Media Retreat
Gerry Smith - Bloomberg
Vice Media is ending its flagship TV news show and laying off staff, marking the latest cuts for journalists in the digital media industry. Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, Vice's new co-chief executive officers, said in a memo to staff Thursday that they are discontinuing Vice News Tonight. The last broadcast will be in May. Vice will also make a "painful" number of cuts across its global news team as the company refocuses on digital videos, documentaries and its TV production business.
/jlne.ws/3oMUfuG
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