A Wall Street practice that lawmakers claimed contributed to the 2008 financial disaster was suggested for restriction by regulators. By a vote of 5-0 on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission decided to reintroduce a rule that would forbid companies that produce asset-backed securities, such as mortgage bonds, from having conflicts of interest. In the interim, the proposal is available for public comment while the commission decides whether to adopt it as a final rule.
Wall Street banks-built securities from combinations of problematic loans in the run-up to the financial crisis and offered them to investors. Traders at the banks placed bets against the assets at the same time.
Such bets in the case of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. resulted in large profits. The bank later paid up what at the time was the highest fine levied by the SEC against a Wall Street company. The SEC had charged Goldman with deceiving investors by marketing mortgage instruments that were actually created in secret by a hedge fund to profit from the collapse of the housing market.
According to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, “this re-proposed rule tries to address this unfinished step in Congress’s vision for financial reform,” and it will help investors and the market as a whole. While lawmakers were formulating Dodd-Frank, Mr. Gensler, a former Goldman banker who also served as chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, gave them valuable advice.
Compliance
UK gaming corporation fined $7.6 million for allegedly having control flaws with money laundering. A regulator identified a number of shortcomings in Intouch Games Ltd.’s program to combat money laundering, leading to a fine of the equivalent of $7.6 million.
The £6.1 million fine for Intouch was issued by the UK Gambling Commission on Wednesday. This is the third enforcement action the regulator has brought against the business since 2019.
Russian oligarchs and business property. A monitor for the U.S. Treasury Department warned banks to be on the lookout for Russian oligarchs who may be trying to engage in commercial real estate in order to evade US sanctions.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, of the Treasury, said on Wednesday that rich and successful Russians with connections to the Kremlin are probably attempting to circumvent the economic sanctions imposed on them in the U.S. by shifting funds into the commercial real estate sector, where tricky financing arrangements and murky institutional ownership can help criminals hide assets.
Blockchain.com appoints a new head of compliance. After the departure of his predecessor for competitor Kraken, the company that offers bitcoin services to both private and public clients has appointed Sven Niederheide to the position of compliance head.
Mr. Niederheide joined Blockchain.com, a firm based in London, in April as its director of legal and compliance, where he assisted the business in obtaining licenses in Europe and other regions. The company stated in its announcement of the hiring in December that he has experience in working in compliance at banking and financial technology companies in Germany and other countries in Europe.
After nearly a year in the position, CJ Rinaldi, Blockchain.com’s previous compliance chief, left for Kraken.
- According to individuals with access to the facts and papers examined by The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is looking into how Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. handled a defective tire that has been implicated in eight fatalities and several injuries.
- In light of recent purchases by Chinese investors, a bipartisan coalition of senators is once again pushing for increased monitoring of foreign purchases of American farmland.
- On Wednesday, a federal court ruled that the Justice Department must adhere to a deal it reached with the biggest trade group for the real estate sector to end an antitrust inquiry into policies governing how agents market homes and determine fees for property sales.
- Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, has requested information from Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. on the company’s suspected use of facial recognition technology to bar some ticket holders from accessing its venues.
- A well-known antiquities trader was convicted by a Swiss court of smuggling some objects into the nation outside the law and, in some cases, using false credentials of origin.
- Over the course of three days of testimony last week, Elon Musk explained his justification for the 2018 tweet in which the CEO of Tesla Inc. claimed to have money in place to take the electric vehicle manufacturer private.
- Following its holiday disaster, the U.S. Transportation Department is looking into Southwest Airlines Co.’s scheduling to see if management overbooked the airline’s capacity.
Data Security
The goal of US intelligence is to prevent cyberattacks by using psychology. The U.S. intelligence community’s primary research organization is looking for methods to employ psychological theories to counter cyberattacks.
IARPA researchers are working to better comprehend and anticipate the behavior of hackers in order to prevent cyber threats.
Risk
While missile attacks are forewarned by sirens, Ukraine counteracts Russian soldiers in the east. According to the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian soldiers successfully rejected Russian efforts to advance in the country’s east while air-raid alarms across the country stoked concerns about potential Russian missile attacks.
Sirens screamed all around Ukraine, including in Kyiv, the country’s capital. In certain areas, authorities again issued air-raid warnings in the late afternoon. Russian air and missile attacks posed a serious threat, the Ukrainian military warned.
According to a recent report, weather-related events and natural disasters cost the global economy $313 billion in 2022. The analysis from professional services company Aon PLC projects that the year will rank as the sixth most expensive on record for insurers, who paid out $132 billion in losses.
The cost of losses from Hurricane Ian, which struck the United States in September, totaled about $96 billion, marking it the nation’s costliest weather catastrophe. Meanwhile, the U.S. suffered a $16 billion loss due to drought last year.
Operations
The first strike by Amazon workers in the UK. The walkout is engulfing the world’s largest online retailer in the tsunami of labor unrest that has been ravaging the economies of the UK and other European nations.
Although Amazon claimed that the strikes at a warehouse in Coventry, central England, would not significantly affect its business operations, the strikes may signal future trouble for the corporation in its most crucial international markets. In a labor dispute, union leaders have already pledged to bring the walkout to further Amazon locations in the U.K.
An increase in recruitment by small firms in the United States can conflict with the Federal Reserve’s efforts to curb inflation.
In order to develop a casino in Manhattan, one of the gambling industry’s most sought-after unexplored areas, gambling corporations must overcome the suspicion of the authorities who must sanction ventures in the center of the city.
Reputation
Splash Mountain at Disney World will be closed in order to erase connections to a racist 1940s film. On Sunday, the last Disney fans rode the rollercoaster, according to a statement on the Walt Disney Co. website. One of the theme park’s most well-known attractions, Splash Mountain, incorporates music and characters from the divisive 1946 movie “Song of the South.” Justin Roiland, the co-creator of “Rick and Morty,” has discontinued his partnerships with the streaming service Hulu and cable network Adult Swim. Roiland is accused of misdemeanor domestic assault and false detention in California.
Information from The Wall Street Journal