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John Lothian Newsletter
​ April 21, 2023 ​ "Irreverent, but never irrelevant"
 
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff

What started as a tradition when I accepted Jeremy Grant's challenge to wear a kilt and raise money for Futures for Kids at the FIA Gala has added a colorful endurance element this year as ABN AMRO Clearing Europe CEO Robbert Booij is cycling amid the tulips from Amsterdam to London be-kilted and be-clogged to raise money for Futures for Kids. Please join me in supporting Robbert by clicking on this LINK.

Actually, Robbert was not the first to add an endurance element to the Kilt Challenge. I ran around the world, virtually. You can see it right HERE.

There are several more stories from tech and cybersecurity publications about the 3CX incident involving an X_Trader download. The stories include one from Latesthackingnews.com titled "3CX Cyber Attack: It Was The Aftermath Of Another Supply-Chain Attack." There is also a story from Wired titled "The Huge 3CX Breach Was Actually 2 Linked Supply Chain Attacks" and another from CNN titled "North Korean hackers breach software firm in significant cyberattack." A site called DarkReading.com chipped in with a story titled "3CX Supply Chain Attack Tied to Financial Trading App Breach" and lastly a story from TechCrunch titled "3CX's supply chain attack was caused by... another supply chain attack."

Katten has joined FIA Tech's Databank Network as a law firm partner. Katten said its regulatory approvals analysis are to be incorporated in Databank Foreign Security Futures services.

The law firm of Jones Day has a commentary on JDSupra.com titled CFTC Goes Beyond the Law to Pursue Nonexistent "Markets."

Bloomberg columnist John Authers' latest piece has a Simon and Garfunkel-inspired headline titled "Bridge Over Oil's Troubled Waters Is Hard to Find." The subheadline is "A lack of enthusiasm to take oil higher adds to evidence of an economic slowdown. And an update on global liquidity."

Another Bloomberg column, this one by Aaron Brown, suggests "Dreams of Replacing Humans in Finance May Come True" and that "We're a long way from AI taking over Wall Street, but two credible studies suggest there's no reason to think it can't." I can't wait for the cloud computer of the year award for the best trading performance.

If the U.S. Congress ever needed a reason to ban TikTok in the U.S., a story from Bloomberg gives a powerful reason. Bloomberg reports that TikTok's algorithm keeps pushing suicide to vulnerable kids.

SGX Group won the "Best FX Exchange" and "Best FX Clearing House" awards at the 6th annual FX Markets Asia Awards, recognising the best-in-class across the FX industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

Yesterday, OCC's retiring CEO John P. Davidson and retiring COO Scot Warren rang the closing bell at Cboe in honor of their retirement.

The Nodal Exchange had record volume in Maine Class 2 REC futures of 1,150 lots (equal to 115,000 MWh of renewable power), topping the previous record of 1,000 set on February 24, 2022. Maine Class 2 RECs, which are only listed on Nodal Exchange, are generated from a variety of renewable resources such as fuel cells, tidal power, solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass generators and municipal solid waste facilities, as well as designated efficient cogeneration facilities, according to the Maine Public Utilities Commission. H/T IncubEx.

Monday after we publish JLN I head south by automobile to Nashville. My wife Cheryl is one of the few spouses on the list for OIC that I have seen. This is her second OIC. She is still upset she did not get to go to Puerto Rico, the one that was canceled due to the pandemic. This will be my son Robert's second OIC and Alex Teng's first and most likely only OIC. He is graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago in May and has already accepted a job with Tesla. He heads in June to California for some training, and then to Austin, TX for this new job.

We still have plenty of slots available for interviews if anyone is interested. You know how to contact me.

After the conference, Cheryl and I are headed to Ohio for the weekend to see friends we have not seen in 30 years. The wife of the couple was one of Cheryl's bridesmaids at our wedding and later went into the Christian ministry. I was a key player in her and her husband becoming a couple when she served as a youth minister at the Glenview Community Church in Glenview, IL. She is retiring from parish ministry in June and we want to hear her preach before she retires. Her mom was a minister too and even had a church in the building at Purdue where the campus ministry was that I served in during my college years.

Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL

*****

Business Insider hosts a panel discussion on sustainable style and how circular fashion is changing the fashion industry in a virtual event on YouTube. The event is part of "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate," a series showcasing the concepts of empowerment and circularity and how they inspire climate action in the world of business and the larger culture. Check out the sustainable style segment here.~SAED

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Xuong Nguyen explains StoneX Group's history to John Lothian News and talks about how the firm is preparing for the next generation
JohnLothianNews.com

Xuong Nguyen, chief operating officer of StoneX Group Inc., talked with John Lothian News at the FIA International Futures Conference in Boca Raton, FL., about the company's history, its recent acquisition of Gain Capital and what's in the future.

Watch the video »

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Robbert's Kilt Challenge
FIA Connect
A Dutchman is cycling his way from Amsterdam to London, be-kilted and be-clogged, all to raise funds for Futures for Kids! Robbert Booij, CEO Europe for ABN AMRO Clearing, is taking on the Kilt Challenge in 2023. Donate now and support his trek from the land of windmills & tulips to the home of Harry Potter and tea.
/jlne.ws/3KTdSZj

***** Robbert takes the challenge to a whole new level and he deserves your support, as do the kids supported by Futures for Kids.~JJL

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The India Stack: opening the digital marketplace to the masses; New Delhi has pioneered a new approach to online infrastructure in its drive to connect 1.4bn. But there are privacy and data protection concerns
Benjamin Parkin, John Reed and Jyotsna Singh - Financial Times
A decade ago, Tej Pal signed up for India's Aadhaar biometric identity scheme, acquiring his first national ID card. A few years later the 44-year-old, who sells fruit near Delhi, used it to open his first bank account. Last year he took a loan to buy his first smartphone to sign up for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India's digital money system. Now Pal, who grew up in a north Indian village without banks or landlines, takes payments for bananas or mangos directly into his bank account via apps such as Google Pay or Walmart-owned PhonePe.
/jlne.ws/3ow6U51

***** India meet Garry Jones and NovaFori. In fact, watch the video we shot with Garry at FIA Boca where he talks about NovaFori and its work to digitize markets.~JJL

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AI Is Coming for Wealth Management. Here's What That Means; Experts weigh in on how artificial intelligence will change the money business.
Blake Schmidt and Amanda Albright - Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence is making remarkable progress in a wide array of tasks, as demonstrated by the rollout of OpenAI's GPT-4 and Alphabet Inc.'s Bard. We asked experts how this technology will affect wealth management. Their responses are edited for length and clarity.
/jlne.ws/43M5MKR

****** You would think a business that is mostly numbers would be easy for AI to dominate. That is the concern. We will find out soon enough, it sounds like.~JJL

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Thursday's Top Three
Tied for most-read story Thursday were Quartz's Taylor Swift didn't fall for FTX because she asked a simple question and Mandiant's 3CX Software Supply Chain Compromise Initiated by a Prior Software Supply Chain Compromise; Suspected North Korean Actor Responsible. Second was CEO Celebrates Worker Who Sold Family Dog After He Demanded They Return to Office, from Vice. Third was another Taylor Swift story, Taylor Swift did her homework on FTX, dodged a bullet, says lawyer suing Tom Brady, Shaq, from The Block.

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MarketsWiki Stats
27,298 pages; 244,382 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

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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.
 
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Lead Stories
How a Brazen Plot to Rig Oil Auctions Cost Venezuela Billions
Liam Vaughan and Lucia Kassai - Bloomberg
David Boies had turned 76 and was contemplating retirement when he received a call from an old friend, an investor named Bill Duker, about a potentially lucrative opportunity. Duker had recently agreed to finance an audacious lawsuit, and he wanted Boies, perhaps the highest-profile attorney in the US, to join.
/jlne.ws/40HHpLH

LME appoints Williamson as interim board chairman
Reuters
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has appointed John Williamson, currently its non-executive director, as interim board chairman starting on April 28, the world's oldest exchange and largest market for industrial metals said on Friday. Williamson will replace Gay Huey Evans, who steps down at the end of April, as the LME, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (0388.HK), is grappling with the consequences of its decision to suspend chaotic nickel trading in March, 2022.
/jlne.ws/41q9A2T

Credit Suisse Investors Challenge Switzerland's $17 Billion Bond Write-Down; A group of creditors have filed legal action against the country's financial regulator, arguing it violated Swiss law when it wrote down around $17 billion of bank bonds
Alexander Saeedy and Margot Patrick - The Wall Street Journal
Credit Suisse Group AG bondholders have launched a legal challenge in Switzerland against regulators' decision to write down $17 billion in securities as part of UBS Group AG's rescue of the troubled bank last month.Bondholders holding about 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) of Credit Suisse's canceled debt want the decision to write down their bonds revoked or amended, according to an outline of their appeal made in a Swiss administrative court and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The bondholders are alleging the total write-down was disproportionately punitive to them and violated their property rights, according to the summary of the legal filing.
/jlne.ws/40rA1nw

Former US Secret Service Agent Cites Crypto Crime to Back Anonymity for FTX Creditors; Ex-agent says crypto criminals may pounce on personal details; Judge in 2022 agreed to keep names of big FTX customers secret
Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
A former US Secret Service agent who specializes in probing financial cybercrime supported anonymity for creditors in the FTX bankruptcy because of risks from the criminals who stalk the cryptocurrency sector. Identifying customers of the fallen crypto exchange "imposes a severe and unusual risk of identity theft, asset theft, personal attack, and further online victimization," Jeremy A. Sheridan, managing director in the blockchain and digital assets practice of FTI Consulting Inc., said in a filing on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3owtNVY

Wake up to the dangers of digital bank runs; The collapse of SVB was a warning to policymakers to take the influence of social media on lenders much more seriously
Gillian Tett - Financial Times
Last month, just after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, a team of American economists embarked on the daunting task of crunching 5.4mn tweets. The reason? When SVB failed it was dubbed the world's first "Twitter-fuelled bank run" by Patrick McHenry, House Financial Services Committee chair. So, the economists - Anthony Cookson, Corbin Fox, Javier Gil-Bazo, Juan Imbet and Christoph Schiller - wanted to test if this was true, or not.
/jlne.ws/3N9PcOS

Fed Rethinks Loophole That Masked Losses on SVB's Securities; Potential change would reverse 2019 decision to loosen rules for midsize banks
Andrew Ackerman and Rachel Louise Ensign - The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Reserve may close a loophole that allows some midsize banks to effectively mask losses on securities they hold, a contributing factor in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Led by vice chair for supervision Michael Barr, the Fed is considering ending an exemption that allows some banks to boost the amount of capital they report for regulatory purposes, according to people familiar with the matter. Capital is the buffer banks are required to hold to absorb potential losses.
/jlne.ws/3Lj6fg6

LME names John Williamson as interim chair; Williamson succeeds Gay Huey Evans who announced she would step down earlier in the year
Jeremy Chan - Financial News
John Williamson has been named the interim chair of the London Metal Exchange. Williamson currently sits on the LME board as a non-executive director and is also the chair of UK gambling firm Tote Group and on the board at Pacific Basin Shipping. "I am delighted that John will become the LME's interim chair. This is a particularly important time for the LME as we look to the future and seek to support the market and our customers in a dynamic and evolving landscape," said Matthew Chamberlain, chief executive of the LME.
/jlne.ws/40rx85R

How a Swedish Fund Suddenly Found Itself at the Heart of the US Banking Crisis; Sweden's Alecta lost almost $2 billion on just three stocks; No other pension fund made such big bets on US niche banks
Anton Wilen, Rafaela Lindeberg, Kati Pohjanpalo and Love Liman - Bloomberg
One of the most surprising victims of the recent US banking crisis is a Swedish pension fund responsible for managing the retirement funds for a quarter of the country's population. For years, Alecta's 1.2 trillion-kronor ($116 billion) portfolio included shares of Signature Bank, First Republic Bank and SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, alongside those of large Swedish companies.
/jlne.ws/3KZkDcf

Funds to Make Returns of As Much As 1,000% From Dead Bank; SNS Reaal was nationalized by the Dutch government in 2013; Davidson Kempner, Brigade among funds that bought claims
Lucca De Paoli and Diederik Baazil - Bloomberg
The Netherlands's top court ordered the Dutch government to pay more than EUR805 million ($882 million) to holders of the bonds of a long-dead bank, paving the way for returns of about 1,000% for some funds.
/jlne.ws/43PSahz

London Trader Turns on Fund Executives at German Tax Dodge Trial; Ex-trader turned cooperating witness testifies in Bonn case; Partners took major decision and were kept up to date, he said
Karin Matussek and Donal Griffin - Bloomberg
The chief executive officer at asset manager Duet Group took all major strategic decisions on a controversial dividend-tax trading strategy that cost Germany EUR92 million, a key witness said at a German criminal trial. So-called Cum-Ex trades was an important business to Duet and CEO Henry Gabay was the most involved of the three partners who owned the business, ex-Duet trader Aneil Anand told a court in Bonn on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3UUbndS

Denmark Arrests Eight People on Power Price Manipulation Charge
Christian Wienberg - Bloomberg
Danish police arrested eight employees at an energy trading company who will face charges of manipulating prices on the Nordic electricity exchange. The people, who include both executives and traders at the firm, have allegedly made profits in a "three-digit" million-krone amount, police said in a statement on Wednesday. Neither the people nor the company were identified, in line with Danish practice.
/jlne.ws/3H0Jxa6

Jho Low's Arrest is in Play
Bradley Hope - Whale Hunting
Back in January, we speculated that the arrival of a new prime minister in Malaysia and China's interest in repairing its relations with a key strategic country in the South China Sea had increased the odds for a deal over the fugitive fraudster Low Taek Jho (a.k.a. Jho Low, a.k.a. The Billion Dollar Whale).
/jlne.ws/3H6l0jZ

China's $1.4 Trillion Wealth Fund Backs ESG as US Divisions Grow; Beijing pushes companies, funds to adopt ESG principles; State-owned shares jump as they follow government lead
Bloomberg
In the US, ESG has become a political wedge issue. In China, it's a national rallying cry. "Environmental, social responsibility and governance," according to a promotional documentary running on Chinese state media, is a way of "using the power of corporations to achieve a more beautiful society." Spurred by Beijing, government-controlled enterprises are beefing up their voluntary ESG disclosures.
/jlne.ws/3UW6MaZ

From billionaire to Montenegro jail: The rapid rise and fall of Terra chief Do Kwon
Danny Park - Forkast
Do Kwon, 31, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, was born in South Korea and graduated from Daewon Foreign Language High School in the capital city Seoul. Daewon is one of the country's most prestigious private schools, with alumni such as Lee Boo-jin, the 52-year-old eldest daughter of former Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, who built the company into South Korea's biggest conglomerate, or chaebol.
/jlne.ws/3oyJlZv

Credit Suisse investors sue after facing billions in losses
Associated Press
A group of Credit Suisse investors have sued Swiss financial regulators after a government-engineered takeover of the struggling bank by rival UBS left them with billions in losses. The investors are contesting an order by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or FINMA, that wiped out about 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.3 billion) in higher-risk Credit Suisse bonds as part of an emergency rescue last month, lawyers said Friday.
/jlne.ws/3Ll6ebu



Abaxx Exchange


Barchart



CME Group


CQG

SGX




Ukraine Invasion
News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact
Ukraine defended Bakhmut despite U.S. warnings in leaked documents
Susannah George and Serhii Korolchuk - The Washington Post
Months after dire warnings from Washington that Ukraine would not be able to hold Bakhmut against an onslaught of Russian mercenaries, Ukrainian forces still cling to the city's western edge in what has stretched into the longest and most deadly fight of the war. U.S. assessments were bleak as early as January, according to previously unreported classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked allegedly by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, and obtained by The Washington Post.
/jlne.ws/43RPIHf

Russia Mistakenly Bombs Own City; Several wounded in Belgorod, which has repeatedly suffered collateral damage in Ukraine war
Georgi Kantchev and Ian Lovett - The Wall Street Journal
Russia said it had mistakenly bombed its own territory late Thursday as Ukraine's Western backers were preparing to meet to discuss future military deliveries to the country to assist in Kyiv's expected counteroffensive.
/jlne.ws/3H4zsZX

The Nord Stream Explosion Remains an Unsolved Mystery Gripping Europe; Was it the Russians? Or maybe Ukrainians? Americans? Brits? Seven months later, only one certainty remains: Infrastructure is an easy target.
Willem Marx - Bloomberg
Shortly after midnight last Sept. 26, a digital seismograph tucked inside a shallow well on the Danish island of Bornholm picked up an unusual signal. The device, roughly the size and shape of a football helmet, registered a pressure wave passing through the rock beneath the island. The wave generated a stream of data points that zipped along cables to a nearby family's garage, where a computer snipped the signals into chunks representing a few seconds apiece. That data then traveled via internet cables strung beneath the Baltic Sea to Copenhagen.
/jlne.ws/3KOpbBW

Ukraine's Grain Saga Takes Another Twist With EU Import Bans
Agnieszka de Sousa - Bloomberg
From restrictions on Ukrainian grain going to eastern Europe to costly English breakfasts and drought problems, here's a snapshot of key food stories from around the world: Ukraine Grains
The latest chapter of the Ukrainian grain saga in eastern Europe returned to Brussels. The European Union will look to prohibit the domestic sale of Ukraine's grain in five member states, only allowing transit to other destinations. That follows unilateral bans by Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria on imports of Ukraine's produce on fears the supplies are hurting their own markets.
/jlne.ws/3oycPGT

Russian Arms Sales to India Stall on Fears Over US Sanctions; India payments for Russia military equipment stuck for a year; Impasse threatens to hurt India's readiness on China border
Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Adrija Chatterjee - Bloomberg
Russian deliveries of military supplies to India have ground to a halt as the countries struggle to find a payment mechanism that doesn't violate US sanctions, according to Indian officials with knowledge of the matter.
/jlne.ws/3USR1BV

How NATO Should Deter Vladimir Putin's Russia; The 31 allies need to fortify their eastern periphery, possibly even with nukes. The harder question is Ukrainian membership.
Andreas Kluth - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3AihhvV

Hungary Grain Lobby Urges Cabinet to Scrap Ukraine Import Ban; Nation's grain association warns of risk of corn shortage; Hungary joined Poland and Slovakia in banning Ukrainian grains
Zoltan Simon - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3oAqbCg

Russians Fleeing Putin a Boon to Serbia's Economy, Brnabic Says; Serbia seeks EU membership without severing Moscow ties; Talks with Kosovo remain top hurdle for Serbian government
Chad Thomas and Misha Savic - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Ap8l7T








Exchanges, OTC & Clearing
Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities
CBOE tells Goldman climate ETF it must find more investors; The $8.5mn fund has breached listing rules by having too few beneficial owners for too long
David Isenberg - Financial Times
A Goldman Sachs environmental, social and governance-focused ETF may be delisted because it has not attracted enough investors, filings show. The $8.5mn Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Paris-Aligned Climate US Large Cap Equity ETF (GPAL) has had fewer than 50 beneficial owners for more than 30 days and is therefore in violation of the Chicago Board Options Exchange BZX Exchange's listing standards, the firm disclosed in a filing earlier this month.
/jlne.ws/41Hv76A

Cboe Europe on the EU's Trilogue negotiation for the Mifir review
The Trade
At TradeTech Europe 2023, The TRADE caught up with Natan Tiefenbrun, president of Cboe Europe, about key topics being discussed at the EU's Trilogue negotiation, as well as the firm's analysis which found real-time pre-trade tape as the only credible option.
/jlne.ws/43THePW

LME announces new Interim Chairman of the Board; John Williamson appointed Interim Chairman of LME Board, effective 28 April; Brings extensive international, financial, governance and market experience to the LME at an important time in its development
London Metal Exchange
The London Metal Exchange (LME) is pleased to announce that John Williamson, currently LME Non-Executive Director, will become the LME's Interim Chairman, effective 28 April 2023. John will replace Gay Huey Evans CBE, who steps down from the Board at the end of April and whose departure was announced earlier this year.
/jlne.ws/3vimcfa

Delayed Publication of the EEX European Processed Potato Index on 20 Apr 2023
EEX
EEX Group Data Source Circular
Affected Commodity: EEX Agricultural Indices.. Issue Description: The EEX European Processed Potato Index expected on 20 Apr 2023 is delayed in all EEX Group DataSource applications.
/jlne.ws/41K34nd

MIAX: FINRA Notice Of Filing To Amend The Codes Of Arbitration Procedure To Make Various Clarifying And Technical Changes To The Codes, Including In Response To Recommendations In The Report Of Independent Counsel Lowenstein Sandler LLP
MIAX
Please refer to the following Regulatory Circulars for information on a FINRA rule proposal to make various clarifying and technical changes to the Codes, including in response to recommendations in the report of independent counsel Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
/jlne.ws/3onWF2y

INE Releases an Announcement on Requesting Public Comments on the Revised Clearing Rules of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange
Shanghai Futures Exchange
Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) releases a notice on requesting public comments on the Revised Clearing Rules of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, as shown below: According to the Futures and Derivatives Law, Regulation on the Administration of Futures Trading, Measures for the Administration of Futures Exchanges, and other applicable rules and regulations, Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) proposes to revise the Clearing Rules of the Shanghai International Energy Exchange and is requesting public comments on these rules.
/jlne.ws/3mXpcvB

The Bank of Russia and the Moscow Exchange agreed on cooperation in the field of fintech
MOEX
On April 21, 2023, the Bank of Russia and the Moscow Exchange signed an agreement on cooperation in the development of financial technologies and their practical application as part of the Fintech Hub educational project of the Bank of Russia.
/jlne.ws/41oF3lQ




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Fintech
A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors
Coinbase granted license to operate in Bermuda, may launch derivatives exchange next week
Jordan Finneseth - Kitco News
Following recent comments from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong that the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange may consider relocating if the regulatory environment in the country doesn't improve, the exchange announced on Wednesday that it has obtained a license to offer its services in Bermuda. The new operational jurisdiction comes as part of an 8-week international expansion drive - dubbed "Go Broad, Go Deep" - launched on March 8. The goal of the strategy is to roll out a number of new initiatives in countries across six continents: South America, Europe, Africa/Middle East, Asia, Australia, and North America.
/jlne.ws/41L7ES9

Twitter Begins Removing Check Marks From Accounts; Elon Musk, the owner of the social media service, has begun to charge a subscription fee for the verification symbol.
Kate Conger - The New York Times
Twitter began removing check mark icons from the profiles of thousands of celebrities, politicians and journalists on Thursday, in one of the most visible indicators of how Elon Musk is changing the company. A check mark had for years meant that Twitter had verified the identity of the user behind an account, and the icon was considered something of a status symbol.
/jlne.ws/442Ab7Q

Broadridge Unveils New Innovations for Front, Middle, and Back-Office Capabilities
Traders Magazine
Broadridge Financial Solutions has launched a trading solution that enables clients to achieve increased straight-through processing and efficiency. The solution also helps clients to achieve better trading decisions and client insights, improved controls, and reduced risk. The new solution will enable clients of Broadridge Trading and Connectivity Solutions to achieve greater agility and faster time to market, improved scalability, and reduced fragmentation of interfaces and tech costs.
/jlne.ws/3UUvfO4

BornTec Divests Managed Hosting and Colocation Business in Deal With TNS
Transaction Network Services - BusinessWire
Transaction Network Services (TNS) and BornTec today announced TNS' acquisition of BornTec's managed hosting and colocation business. This acquisition continues TNS' expansion of its global connectivity footprint and builds on previous acquisitions. For BornTec, the move was strategic. "This divestiture allows us to sharpen our focus on our industry-leading CrossCheck trading data analytics platform, bringing us to the forefront of at-trade and post-trade operational resilience, data intelligence and automation," said Derek Haworth, CEO of BornTec.
/jlne.ws/43C4Ice

Deepfakes Are Running Rampant as Tools to Detect Them Lag Behind; It's getting easier to manipulate images but there's little financial incentive for companies to invest in tools to detect fakes
Diana Li - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3UZxobd



Vermiculus



Cybersecurity
Top stories for cybersecurity
Australia's Optus hit with class action over cybersecurity breach
Reuters
More than 100,000 current and former customers have joined a class action lawsuit against Australian telecommunications giant Optus over a cybersecurity breach last year that compromised roughly 1.2 million customers, lawyers said on Friday.
/jlne.ws/41uvXUC

Is your bank account safe? Mass layoffs weaken cybersecurity across finance sector
Joe Toppe - Fox Business
The recent wave of job cuts has sliced into the talent pool of professionals in the cybersecurity industry, opening a door in the finance sector between cybercrooks and the full array of someone's online accounts.
From banking, trading and investing to the emergence of digital assets like bitcoin and Ethereum, the bulk of even the most basic transactions today are usually done online.
/jlne.ws/3H3ikDY

GhostToken Flaw Could Let Attackers Hide Malicious Apps in Google Cloud Platform
Ravie Lakshmanan - The Hacker News
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a now-patched zero-day flaw in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that could have enabled threat actors to conceal an unremovable, malicious application inside a victim's Google account.
Israeli cybersecurity startup Astrix Security, which discovered and reported the issue to Google on June 19, 2022, dubbed the shortcoming GhostToken.
/jlne.ws/43K0K1g

Navigating The Future Of Cyber: Business Strategy, Cybersecurity Training, And Digital Transformation Are Key
Emily Mossburg - Forbes
Cyber investments have become table stakes for businesses around the world. Cybercrime is increasing, with 91% of organizations reporting at least one cyber incident in the past year. Not only are they growing in numbers, but they are becoming more sophisticated and diverse, with new threats constantly emerging. According to the 2023 Deloitte Global Future of Cyber survey, in this environment, business leaders are changing how they think of cyber, and it's emerging as a larger strategic discussion tied to an organization's long-term success.
/jlne.ws/3USOyY8





Cryptocurrencies
Top stories for cryptocurrencies
CFTC Adviser Chris Perkins Says U.S. Risks Falling Behind in Crypto
Ian Allison - CoinDesk
Crypto-focused VC CoinFund President Chris Perkins, also an adviser to the Commodities and Futures Trade Commission (CFTC), has published a regulatory white paper, and warned that the U.S. is at risk of falling behind in cryptocurrency.
/jlne.ws/43PoyAX

1inch, Aggregator of Decentralized Crypto Exchanges, to Launch on Ethereum Rollup zkSync Era
Sam Kessler - CoinDesk
1inch, the decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator, is launching a version of its platform onto zkSync Era, the recently released Ethereum scaling network from Matter Labs.
/jlne.ws/3N8b1Pb

Crypto Lending Protocol MakerDAO Approves Transferring a Maximum of $500M in USDC to Coinbase Custody for 2.6% Yield
Krisztian Sandor - CoinDesk
Crypto lending protocol MakerDAO approved opening a real-world asset (RWA) vault for Coinbase Custody and the transfer of up to $500 million in USDC stablecoins, according to a vote concluded on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3Aia13b

Biggest Bitcoin Trading Pair Uses Relatively Obscure Stablecoin TrueUSD; Bitcoin-TrueUSD became key trading pair amid Binance promotion; TrueUSD market value jumped by $1 billion in past two months
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
The TrueUSD stablecoin, a token that was little known until this year, now makes up the largest Bitcoin trading pair in a major shift spurred by the Binance crypto exchange, according to data provider Kaiko.
/jlne.ws/40sFf28

FTX US's Former Head Kicks Off Trading Hub for Futures and Crypto
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Brett Harrison's software startup is pushing into futures and crypto markets for institutional investors, as he moves away from his association with Sam-Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. Architect Financial Technologies, the venture formed by the former president of FTX US, is launching a platform to tap into exchanges and trading venues including CME Group Inc., Coinbase Global Inc. and Uniswap.
/jlne.ws/3KZrpyy

Innovation And The Future Of Finance, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller, At The Cryptocurrency And The Future Of Global Finance, Sarasota, Florida
Mondovisione
/jlne.ws/3UVQpv5

Bakkt CEO Says Bringing Utility to Crypto Starts With Payments
PYMNTS
/jlne.ws/3KPIsTI

Crypto Wants Its Own Rules, and the EU Obliges
Emily Nicolle - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41oO7XS




FTSE



Politics
An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets
The House Financial Services Committee weighs crypto legislation and outrage
Leo Schwartz - Fortune
Before FTX's collapse in November, Washington, D.C., was awash with possibilities. There was a draft floating around of a stablecoin bill from the House Financial Services Committee and three promising crypto market structure bills from two key Senate committees and a House committee, all with bipartisan support, in the hope that one might even pass before the end of the session.
/jlne.ws/43Puz0v

Biden Aims to Unveil China Investment Curbs With G-7 Backing; US wants key allies to endorse concept at May summit in Japan; Order will focus on chips, AI, quantum investments in China
Jenny Leonard - Bloomberg
President Joe Biden aims to sign an executive order in the coming weeks that will limit investment in key parts of China's economy by American businesses, people familiar with the internal deliberations said. The administration, which has been debating the measure for almost two years, plans to take action around the time of a summit of the Group of Seven advanced economies that's due to start on May 19 in Japan.
/jlne.ws/3UWxznV

Statement by the Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen on President Biden's Announcement of new U.S. Funding to the Green Climate Fund
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Today, at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, President Joe Biden announced $1 billion in U.S. funding to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world's largest climate and environment focused multilateral fund. The $1 billion doubles the total funding provided from the United States to the GCF, of which half is expected to support adaptation-related projects and the President's Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE).
/jlne.ws/41pHUuJ

Janet Yellen warns US decoupling from China would be 'disastrous'; Treasury secretary calls for 'constructive and fair' economic relationship as Washington moves to repair frayed ties
Demetri Sevastopulo - Financial Times
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has warned any effort to decouple from China would be "disastrous", saying national security measures targeted at Beijing were not designed to "stifle" the Chinese economy. In a major speech on Thursday, Yellen called for a "constructive and fair" economic relationship between China and the US, as Washington seeks to repair badly fraying relations between the two economic powers.
/jlne.ws/3V1wsDq

Dominic Raab resigns as UK deputy prime minister; Decision comes after independent report into bullying claims upholds two allegations
Jim Pickard and George Parker - Financial Times
Dominic Raab on Friday resigned as the UK's deputy prime minister after an independent report into bullying claims against him upheld two of the eight formal complaints. Raab said he wanted to "keep his word" to step down if the report by employment lawyer Adam Tolley that was commissioned by Rishi Sunak found evidence of any bullying of civil servants.
/jlne.ws/3H5peIB

China Plans to Conduct Intensive Military Drills Amid US Tensions; Taiwan leader Tsai's US meeting with McCarthy angered Beijing; Drills will take place before US-Philippine military exercises
Jacob Gu - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/43U9zpu



Regulation & Enforcement
Stories about regulation and the law.
Gary Gensler Gets Grilled - And Now?
Ivan Cryptoslav - CoinMarketCap
Crypto's great villain, Gary Gensler, finally made crypto fans happy. Not because he finally did something good for crypto. But because he got his backside handed to him in a congressional hearing: What Was the Congressional Hearing About? Congressional hearings collect and analyze information ahead of policy-making. With a couple of crypto bills stranded in the wheels of Washington's legislative process, the hearing on Tuesday was to provide some clarity for things to move forward.
/jlne.ws/3UY6Ozu

Credit Suisse bondholders sue Swiss regulator over write-down
Kirstin Ridley, Jahnavi Nidumolu and Jyoti Narayan - Reuters
Investors representing more than 4.5 billion Swiss francs ($5 billion) of Credit Suisse bonds have sued the Swiss regulator over its decision to wipe out their investments during last month's emergency government-orchestrated takeover.
/jlne.ws/3GZpeda

Canadian securities regulators publish annual activities report on the oversight of SROs and investor protection funds
Canadian Securities Administrators
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today published CSA Staff Notice 25-310 2022 Annual Activities Report on the Oversight of Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) and Investor Protection Funds (IPFs) that summarizes key information, activities and observations related to CSA oversight of the former SROs and IPFs during the 2022 calendar year.
/jlne.ws/3H3FdXP

Virtu CEO slams Gensler reforms as Democratic plan to curb retail trading
Chris Matthews - MarketWatch
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has embarked on a mission to fundamentally overhaul the structure of U.S. securities markets, and he's made a few enemies along the way. Few are more vocal that Doug Cifu, CEO of Virtu Financial, the second-largest securities wholesaler in the country, whose more than $2 billion in annual revenue could be threatened by market reforms proposed by Gensler and the SEC last December.
/jlne.ws/3H1GGxC

SEC Files Charges in Fine Wine Investment Fraud Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges today against Charles Winn LLC, its senior managers, Aaron David Scott-Britten (aka Aaron David, Aaron Scott, and Aaron David K. Britten) and Ohran Emmanuel Stewart (aka Elliott Stewart), Casey Alexander, a senior sales representative of Charles Winn, and Charles Winn's record managing member, Charlie Jake Smith, for allegedly raising at least $8.5 million through the fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of purported fine wine investments to at least 121 investors, many of whom are elderly.
/jlne.ws/40nHeVy

SEC Obtains Judgments Against Former Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager and Trader Related to Hedge Fund Valuation Scheme
SEC
On April 11, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered final consent judgments against Amin Majidi, a portfolio manager for a private fund advised by now-defunct New York-based investment adviser Premium Point Investments LP, and Ashish Dole, a Premium Point trader, permanently enjoining them from violating the antifraud and other provisions of the federal securities laws.
/jlne.ws/43Ueve0

Canadian financial regulators enhance cost reporting requirements for investment funds and individual segregated fund contracts
Ontario Securities
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) today published changes to enhance total cost reporting (TCR) disclosure for investment funds and individual segregated fund contracts (Segregated Funds). The TCR enhancements (the Enhancements) will improve the transparency of total fees and costs to holders of investment funds and Segregated Funds.
/jlne.ws/41OtQdY

FCA sets out multi-occupancy leasehold insurance reforms
FCA
The FCA is proposing new rights and protections for leaseholders to improve the transparency of the multi-occupancy leasehold buildings insurance market.
/jlne.ws/40xONJg








Investing & Trading
Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities)
CloudQuant Releases New Signal Research and Core CPI Forecast Utilizing Prosper's Forward-looking Consumer Survey Data
CloudQuant - BusinessWire
CloudQuant, a leading provider of data technology and research insights, has released new backtests and forecasts utilizing Prosper Insights & Analytics US award-winning survey data, which provides a proactive look at consumer trends to come. The results have been impressive and all types of investors should be taking notice.
/jlne.ws/3AiovQE

Weed Stock Fund Is Down 72% Even as Legalization Spreads; Cannabis stocks face pressure amid regulatory uncertainty; Wall Street is still largely bullish on industry as a whole
Carmen Reinicke - Bloomberg
It's been a rough year for cannabis company stocks, even as more states in the US move to legalize or decriminalize marijuana. The Roundhill Cannabis ETF (WEED) has declined 72% to an all-time low close since its launch one year ago on 420 Day - an unofficial pot holiday - as the stocks it holds have lost investors nearly $12 billion in value. The MJ PurePlay 100 Index, which includes 100 cannabis-related stocks, has shed 65% in the same timeframe.
/jlne.ws/41sSDVd

UK regulator offers £235mn compensation to Woodford investors; FCA says redress package will cover losses after fund was plunged into crisis in 2019
Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
Investors trapped in former star stockpicker Neil Woodford's flagship fund have been offered up to £235mn in compensation after an investigation by regulators into one of the UK fund management industry's biggest scandals. The Financial Conduct Authority set out the compensation plan after finding that Link Fund Solutions, which was the administrator for Woodford's £3.7bn Equity Income Fund, made "critical errors and mistakes" that hastened the fund's demise.
/jlne.ws/3Ajx5yq

ETFs offer a route to much-needed bond market liquidity; Exchange traded funds have potential to help investors navigate changed macro environment
Henry Timmons - Financial Times
Providing more liquid means to facilitate transactions is the primary function of financial markets. Before stock markets, the only way to participate in company ownership was to actually own a piece of the business. Before the futures market, one would have had to sell pork bellies and cotton in a physical marketplace. Markets trade instruments that are more liquid than their underlying assets.
/jlne.ws/3UZvjMG

Glencore Expects Another Bumper Year of Commodity Trading; Energy products contributed to strong first-quarter trading; Glencore is trying to buy Canadian mining rival Teck Resources
Thomas Biesheuvel - Bloomberg
Glencore Plc, which is in the middle of a fight to buy Canadian mining rival Teck Resources Ltd., said it's on course for yet another bumper year of trading commodities. Glencore is one of the world's biggest mining companies, but it also operates a sprawling trading business. The industry experienced a blowout year in 2022, as the disruptions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices and volatility soaring. While some rivals have warned the extreme records of last year are unlikely to be repeated, Glencore's guidance on Friday shows how conditions continue to favor the traders.
/jlne.ws/3UXDXuV

Scary Activist Investors Aren't That Scary Anymore; Shareholder agitators have been leaning more on their reputations lately than on any concrete actions.
Ed Hammond - Bloomberg
A successful activist strategy - investing in companies and demanding influence - needs to arouse fear in its targets. For years, this meant campaigns against individual executives that savagely detailed missteps and excesses. As Third Point's Daniel Loeb explained in 2005: "Sometimes a town hanging is useful to establish my reputation."
/jlne.ws/40nGIXH




Qontigo




Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance
Stories about environmental, social and governance investing
7 big Earth Day wins for the planet; The most important environmental policies advanced since the last Earth Day.
Umair Irfan and Rebecca Leber - Vox
Earth Day will be here again on April 22, and since the last time our planet reached this part of its orbit, humanity has actually taken surprisingly big new steps to avert the gargantuan threats to life as we know it: toxic pollution, habitat destruction, extinction, and climate change. These problems stem from the things we build, buy, and eat. But that also means if we change our actions, we can solve them.
/jlne.ws/41K03TU

Earth Day 2023: green or greenwashed?
Justine Calma - The Verge
Earth Day falls on April 22nd every year, and I've come to dread it. More often than not, as an environmental reporter, it means sifting through a million announcements from companies shouting about how they're trying to save the planet. Alas, most of the stuff I see is just greenwashing. It's more about selling a product or an image of the company as sustainable and not about doing what's necessary to take on the environmental crises the world faces - whether that's climate change, plastic pollution, or e-waste.
/jlne.ws/40uNgUv

Biden to Create White House Office of Environmental Justice; In a Rose Garden announcement, Mr. Biden is expected to pledge new policies to end environmental racism. He also will attack Republicans.
Lisa Friedman - The New York Times
President Biden on Friday plans to announce the creation of a White House Office of Environmental Justice, one of several actions to address the unequal burden that people of color carry from environmental hazards, according to the White House.
/jlne.ws/3UXzMzl

Climate Risks in the Industrials Sector
UNEP FI
The industrials sector emits 25% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Including construction inputs such as cement, steel and iron, as well as petrochemicals such as plastics and ammonia, the sector includes many high emitting activities known to be hard to decarbonise.
/jlne.ws/41zzZve

Roadblocks ahead for China's ESG disclosure journey
Stanley Yupu - IFLR
As China gears up for ISSB's ESG disclosure standards, sources point to a number of implementation challenges. With the master environmental, social and governance-related disclosure guidance set by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) due to be released in Q2 this year, the question for China will be how regulators will apply these standards and whether Chinese companies will be motivated to implement them, sources have told IFLR.
/jlne.ws/3UY4uYU

Lululemon's Climate Goals Hinge on Replacing Oil With Plants; It took nearly two years for Lululemon to replace nylon in two shirts with a plant-based version
Dieter Holger - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3UVR0wY

ESG transparency and standardisation can beat 'anti-woke' agenda
Alice Tchernookova - IFLR
/jlne.ws/3mMMS5X








Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds
The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures
Managed Funds Association Opens London Office
Managed Funds Association - MarketsMedia
Managed Funds Association (MFA), the association for the global alternative asset management industry, announced that it opened its first UK office in London. To lead this office, MFA welcomes James Martin as Managing Director, Head of UK Government Affairs. The London office is MFA's second permanent presence outside the United States. MFA represents over 170 alternative asset managers-nearly half having a presence in the UK-including hedge funds, credit funds, and crossover funds that collectively manage over £1.7 trillion in assets under management.
/jlne.ws/3UWvwAf

Banking Gets a Bit Narrower; Also Bed Bath stock, SVB's bonds and the Chainsmokers.
Matt Levine - Bloomberg
We have talked a few times recently about, like, the theory of banking. That theory goes roughly like this. Banks fund themselves with deposits, which are basically short term and safe: If you have $100 in a bank account, you expect that it will always be worth $100, and you expect to be able to withdraw five $20 bills any time you want.
/jlne.ws/3H3ATI5

MUFG Seeks to Buy Alternative Asset Firms to Match Client Flows; Japan's biggest bank sees strong demand for private assets; May also boost investor services for foreign firms in Japan
Taiga Uranaka and Komaki Ito - Bloomberg
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is seeking to acquire alternative asset managers as more client money flows into non-traditional investments. Japan's biggest bank has seen a big increase in bets on private assets such as real estate and infrastructure as customers try to diversify portfolio risks, said Takayuki Yasuda, head of MUFG's asset management and investor services business group. "We haven't been able to meet demand," he said in an interview.
/jlne.ws/41yrlgw

Hedge Fund Manager Nears Deal for Birmingham City FC Stake; Tom Wagner is co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management; He would join other US buyers targeting British football clubs
David Hellier - Bloomberg
Hedge fund manager Tom Wagner is close to buying a stake in Birmingham City Football Club, according to people familiar with the matter. Wagner is a co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, which oversees about $9 billion and focuses on event-driven investing and distressed credit. The New York-based firm declined to comment.
/jlne.ws/41uPoNa

Credit Agricole Reached Settlement to Sidestep Tax Probe; Bank paid EUR35 million in back taxes and fines, one person said; French peers face EUR1 billion in payments in tax fraud probes
Alexandre Rajbhandari - Bloomberg
Credit Agricole SA reached a settlement with French authorities to avoid being dragged into a criminal probe over the emerging "Cum-Cum" tax scandal that's embroiled some of its biggest rivals, according to people familiar with the matter. The Paris-based lender has decided to collaborate with France's fiscal authorities in order to resolve the claims related to the controversial dividend arbitrage strategy and avoid raids on its premises, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
/jlne.ws/3NjW4JZ

Credit Suisse Accused of Systemic Fraud in UK Subprime Suit; Swiss lender sued in UK for $160 million over 2007 securities; Credit Suisse denies allegations, says the claims will fail
Upmanyu Trivedi - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41ys5Ck

US regional banks' stability comes at a price after SVB's collapse
Stephen Gandel, Joshua Franklin and Brooke Masters - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3UXl8bu

Barclays Names HSBC Executive as Compliance Chief; Kirsty Everett is succeeding Matt Fitzwater, the British bank's interim chief compliance officer
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/3ozYWHX




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Work & Management
Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends.
When Managers Try to Be Therapists, Worker Mental Health Suffers; The increased attention paid to workers' stress and anxiety in recent years is a good thing, but some bosses don't know where to draw the line.
Matthew Boyle - Bloomberg
Layoffs, return-to-office battles and concerns over artificial intelligence replacing jobs have elevated employee stress levels, exposing a troubling workplace deficiency: Very few managers know how to deal appropriately with workers' mental-health concerns.
/jlne.ws/3Lmgi4l








Wellness Exchange
An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information
Could Certain Foods Help With Hot Flashes? There's only preliminary research on how diet might affect menopause symptoms, but some nutrients show promise.
Alisha Haridasani Gupta - New York Times
For a phenomenon that affects roughly 75 percent of menopausal American women, hot flashes are still surprisingly mysterious, with little known about how they work or what to do about them.
/jlne.ws/3AjIWN6

TikTok's Algorithm Keeps Pushing Suicide to Vulnerable Kids
Olivia Carville - Bloomberg
TikTok's algorithm doesn't know Chase Nasca is dead. More than a year after Nasca killed himself at age 16, his account remains active. Scroll through his For You feed, and you see an endless stream of clips about unrequited love, hopelessness, pain and what many posts glorify as the ultimate escape: suicide. "Take the pain away. Death is a gift," says one video pushed to the account this February, days before the first anniversary of Nasca's death.
/jlne.ws/43OHf7P

Apple Plans iPhone Journaling App in Expansion of Health Initiatives; Daily activities log is set to compete with existing software
Aaron Tilley - The Wall Street Journal
Apple Inc. is planning an iPhone app to let users compile their daily activities as part of its efforts in the market for mental and physical health technology, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The software will compete in a category of so-called journaling apps, such as Day One, which lets users track and record their activities and thoughts. The new Apple product underscores the company's growing interest in mental health.
/jlne.ws/40o3n5X

Hospitals Turn to Gig Work, Non-Medical Staff to Fill Nursing Shortage; Care facilities are rethinking and reorganizing the job of registered nurses.
Lauren Coleman-Lochner - Bloomberg
Hospitals, scrambling to fill vacancies after departures of nurses and other caregivers during the pandemic, are looking to new places and methods to hire help - including warehouse workers and their own non-medical staff - and creating shorter, gig-work shifts.
/jlne.ws/3NaVi1s








Regions
Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions
Credit Suisse AT1 Bond Writeoff Hands $1 Billion Loss to Japan Investors
Erica Yokoyama, Emi Urabe and Nao Sano - Bloomberg
Japan investors bought about 140 billion yen ($1 billion) of Credit Suisse Group AG's bonds that were written off when the Swiss bank was suddenly sold last month, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.
/jlne.ws/3LktHd9

Russian Neighbor to Cut Power Grid Ties in Independence Test; Litgrid to disconnect from Russia's grid in test on Saturday; Russia's Kaliningrad will also be isolated from Lithuania
Milda Seputyte - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/41M2KEr

European 'honey laundering' fightback targets Chinese sugar syrup; Beekeepers backed by 20 EU states call for tougher rules on fraudulent honey
Ian Johnston - Financial Times
EU countries are pushing back against an influx of syrup-laced honey from China and other exporters which is flooding the bloc's EUR2.3bn honey market and driving down prices. The bid by 20 member states, led by Slovenia, to tighten regulation against what one official dubbed "honey laundering" follows a European Commission study that found a surge in fraud. Almost half of the honeys surveyed broke EU rules, with ingredients such as sugar syrups, colourings and water, according to findings released last month.
/jlne.ws/3H2VZ9i

Chile's president unveils plan to nationalise lithium supply; Move by leftwing leader follows Mexico, Indonesia and other countries seizing greater control over mineral resources
Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
Chile's president Gabriel Boric said on Thursday he planned to nationalise the country's lithium industry, transforming the landscape for miners in the world's second-largest producer of the metal crucial to car batteries and other green technologies.
/jlne.ws/3Lhh1Uj

Ontario Teachers fund steers clear of crypto after $95mn FTX loss; Head of $190bn pension plan wary of lightly regulated sector after member feedback
Josephine Cumbo and Arash Massoudi - Financial Times
Canada's $190bn Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan says it is steering clear of the cryptocurrency sector after writing off a $95mn investment in FTX, the failed digital currency exchange. OTPP was among a number of big-name money managers to back FTX, with investments in 2021 and early 2022. The move was widely seen as a sign that high-profile, blue-chip investors were giving their stamp of approval to the fast-growing but lightly regulated crypto sector.
/jlne.ws/3LjSnlR








Miscellaneous
Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections
How to Claim Your Share of Facebook's $725 Million Privacy Settlement
Jenny Gross - The New York Times
If you used Facebook in the United States between May 2007 and December 2022, you can apply to claim your share of a $725 million settlement that Facebook's parent company agreed to pay to settle a class-action lawsuit, according to a claims website set up by a settlement administrator. Users can enter their information on facebookuserprivacysettlement.com to get their payment through their bank account, Venmo or other methods.
/jlne.ws/41MwqBn

BuzzFeed News, Which Dragged Media Into the Digital Age, Shuts Down
Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson - The New York Times
In a move that brings to a close a pioneering era of online journalism, BuzzFeed is shutting down its namesake news division. After beginning as a quirky digital upstart and rising to a Pulitzer Prize-winning operation, it ultimately fell prey to the punishing economics of digital publishing that has laid low many of its peers.
/jlne.ws/3oAirk0







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