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Credit Suisse Group AG shares fell more than 25% Wednesday and hit a fresh record low, reflecting increasing concerns that troubles that hit regional U.S. banks have migrated across the Atlantic. Other major European banks took hits, with shares in France’s two major international banks, Société Générale SA and BNP Paribas SA, both down more than 10%. Shares in Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG slid 8%.

Swiss regulators said they would provide liquidity to Credit Suisse Group AG, if necessary, offering a lifeline to the lender hard hit by concerns over its financial health. Investor confidence in Credit Suisse crumbled Wednesday, unleashing worries that a banking crisis centered among U.S. regional banks had spread across the Atlantic and was poised to unleash substantial damage to markets and the economy.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. Arm to Be Bought by HSBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HSBC said it would buy the U.K. arm of Silicon Valley Bank on Monday. HSBC will buy the U.K. subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank for just over $1, after a frantic weekend for regulators who tried to find a way to protect the bank’s depositors after its U.S. parent collapsed. The deal meant the bank avoided being placed into insolvency, which the Bank of England had planned to impose if it couldn’t find a buyer. The central bank said the sale would support confidence in the U.K.’s financial system.

☆ U.K. Offers Aid to Silicon Valley Bank Customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. The U.K. government said Sunday it was working on a lifeline for companies that had deposits locked up at Silicon Valley Bank ’s British arm following the collapse of its U.S. parent. In a statement, the U.K. Treasury said that it wanted to “avoid or minimize damage to some of our most promising companies,” adding the plan would ensure their short-term operational and cash flow needs were covered.

☆ Bank of England Shuts Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. Subsidiary
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.K. arm of Silicon Valley Bank will stop making payments or accepting deposits after its parent’s collapse on Friday. The Bank of England said it would place Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. subsidiary into insolvency procedure following the collapse of its parent in the U.S. In a statement late Friday, the BOE said Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. arm will stop making payments or accepting deposits.

☆ Trial Targets Bankers Who Moved Money for Putin’s Cellist Friend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Margot Patrick | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The friendship between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and cellist Sergei Roldugin, has been reported on for years. A trial of four bankers in Switzerland offers insight into how members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle used Swiss bank accounts to sidestep U.S. sanctions. In spring 2014, companies owned by a concert cellist close to Mr. Putin opened bank accounts at Gazprombank Switzerland, an arm of the Russian state banking giant in Zurich. A Russian media company, whose bank-owner had just been sanctioned over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, paid the cellist’s accounts a stream of dividends.

☆ Texts From Crypto Giant Binance Reveal Plan to Elude U.S. Authorities
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Caitlin Ostroff | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Binance exploded onto the crypto scene in 2017 and grew into the world’s biggest digital-currency exchange. It quickly ran into a problem. It largely operated from hubs in China and then Japan, yet a fifth of its customers were in the U.S., where authorities signaled a coming crackdown on unregulated offshore crypto players. Any lawsuit from U.S. regulators would be like “nuclear fall out” for Binance’s business and its officers, a Binance executive warned colleagues in a 2019 private chat.

☆ Regulator Orders Crypto Firm Paxos to Stop Issuing Binance Stablecoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Caitlin Ostroff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BUSD, also known as Binance USD, is a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars on a one-to-one basis. New York regulators directed a crypto company to stop issuing one of the largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, as a government clampdown on the sector widens. The New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Co., which issues and lists Binance’s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, to stop creating more of its BUSD token, Binance said in a statement. Paxos will continue to manage redemptions of the product, the crypto exchange added.

The SEC issued a letter to Paxos known as a Wells notice, which the agency uses to inform companies of a possible enforcement action. The Securities and Exchange Commission has told crypto firm Paxos Trust Co. that it plans to sue the company for violating investor protection laws, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest move in the agency’s escalating campaign in crypto enforcement. The SEC’s enforcement staff issued a letter to Paxos known as a Wells notice, which the agency uses to inform companies and individuals of a possible enforcement action, according to the people.

☆ Crypto Firm Paxos to Stop Issuing Dollar-Pegged Binance Token
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Caitlin Ostroff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New York regulators directed a crypto company to stop issuing one of the largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies, as a government clampdown on the sector widens. The New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Co., which issues and lists Binance’s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, to stop creating more of its BUSD token. Paxos will continue to manage redemptions of the product, according to a Binance statement.

☆ Binance.US CFO Says Customer Funds Are Safe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

The U.S.-based arm of crypto exchange Binance doesn’t lend out customer assets and doesn’t commingle deposits with the larger platform, its financial chief said Wednesday. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CFO Journal The Morning Ledger provides daily news and insights on corporate finance from the CFO Journal team. “At Binance.US, customer assets are theirs,” she said. So that’s the extent of our relationship,” Ms. Lee said. “As far as the business activities go, we do not commingle customers’ assets.

☆ Bitcoin Prices Rally as Larger Traders Take Charge
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Larger investors appear to be powering a recovery in bitcoin prices, as the sway of smaller individual traders over cryptocurrency markets wanes. Based on end-of-day trading prices, bitcoin has rallied about 51% from a nadir hit in November, after the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It was quoted late Thursday at about $23,600, and drifted slightly lower in early trading Friday. Other tokens such as ether and dogecoin have also rebounded. The recovery mirrors a rebound in other risky assets, such as some high-growth technology stocks.

☆ Deutsche Bank Profit Rises on Booming Lending Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Deutsche Bank AG’s net profit rose in the fourth quarter on the back of higher interest rates, driving the lender to post its strongest year since 2007. The result vindicates efforts by Chief Executive Christian Sewing to rein in a bank that for years was among the world’s most troubled, following major scandals, regulatory fines and profit struggles.

☆ Millennials are living with their parents at higher rates than past generations, and they're not ashamed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Since 2020 adults aged 25 to 34 are living at home at higher rates than past generations, said the Census Bureau. According to the US Census Bureau, about 18% of men and 12% of women ages 25 to 34 were living with their parents in 2022. Barwig estimates she's saving about $30,000 a year. "I don't really spend a lot of money," she said. She's been able to maintain the job as a mostly remote employee at the Jersey Shore, where her parents live.

☆ Former Bolsonaro Minister Arrested in Probe Over Brazil Riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Luciana Magalhaes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BRASÍLIA—The Brazilian official in charge of the capital’s security at the time of Sunday’s riots surrendered to police Saturday morning as judicial authorities investigate what they say are a web of suspects intent on overthrowing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva . Anderson Torres, who previously was justice minister under the right-wing government of former President Jair Bolsonaro , arrived in Brasília shortly after 7 a.m. from the U.S., where he had been on vacation since last week.

☆ Brazil Gives Local Officials More Power to Thwart Protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Luciana Magalhaes | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

BRASÍLIA—The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the powers of local authorities in Brazil to control antigovernment protests, as authorities braced for further turmoil around the country after Sunday’s attacks in the capital. The decision came as prosecutors requested a freeze on the assets of the country’s right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro . His successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , has accused Mr. Bolsonaro of inspiring his supporters to riot in the capital on Sunday. Mr. Bolsonaro hasn’t conceded defeat in the Oct. 30 presidential election, in which Mr. da Silva won 50.9% of the vote.

According to the police, a 6-year-old boy at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia used a gun legally purchased by his mother to intentionally shoot his teacher on Friday. Because, research shows that most children who get intervention early for violent behaviors recover. These can help a child develop a strong foundation for thinking things through and foster an openness or motivation to learn. And I certainly don’t want to draw sweeping and overly upbeat conclusions saying that every individual can be rehabilitated. The reportedly intentional shooting of a teacher by a 6-year-old is awful and heartbreaking.

BRASÍLIA—As rioters calling for the ousting of Brazil’s newly elected leftist president ransacked the capital Sunday, many Brazilians wondered whether the country’s right-leaning military would step in and stop the violence. By Sunday evening, they had their answer: Following the orders of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , the army and military police had restored order in the city, despite having many vocal supporters of the right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro , in their ranks.

Sam Bankman-Fried built the cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the reputation of his trading firm, Alameda Research LLC. Alameda was applying Wall Street-style wizardry to the crypto world—and outsiders thought it was winning big. But little was known beyond the firm about its trades, which included a lucrative early bet involving bitcoin in Japan. Alameda had no outside investors and didn’t disclose its performance.

☆ Crypto Giant Binance Offers Little Transparency After FTX Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Caitlin Ostroff | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao says the crypto exchange has taken no loans and is profitable. The collapse of the crypto exchange FTX has triggered calls for transparency in the industry. To many investors, the industry’s biggest player, Binance, remains a black box. Crypto exchange Binance processes more transactions than most of its rivals combined, accounting for roughly half of crypto spot trading and two-thirds of derivatives trading, according to the research firm CryptoCompare.

☆ FTX Wants to Claw Back Sam Bankman-Fried’s Donations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New management at the collapsed crypto exchange FTX said it would try to recoup donations made by Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives, which include tens of millions of dollars in contributions to U.S. politicians and affiliated groups. The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit last week that customer assets were used to make investments, real-estate purchases and large political donations.

A Tether official and the head of the world’s largest crypto exchange grew alarmed that Sam Bankman-Fried was trying to destabilize the stablecoin and with it the broader crypto market last month in a last-ditch attempt to save FTX, according to messages seen by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the situation. In a Signal group chat called “Exchange coordination,” Changpeng Zhao , the chief executive of crypto exchange giant Binance, confronted Mr. Bankman-Fried on Nov. 10.

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NASSAU, Bahamas— Sam Bankman -Fried’s $32 billion crypto-trading empire collapsed in an incandescent bankruptcy last week, prompting irate customers, crypto acolytes and Silicon Valley bigwigs to ask how something that seemed so promising could have imploded so fast. The emerging picture suggests FTX wasn’t simply felled by a rival, or undone by a bad trade or the relentless fall this year in the value of cryptocurrencies. Instead, it had long been a chaotic mess. No one could say exactly what belonged to whom. Prosecutors are now investigating its collapse.

☆ FTX Auditors Doubled as Crypto Industry Cheerleaders
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jean Eaglesham | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When FTX faced a liquidity crunch, the auditor of its U.S. unit seized the moment to promote its services for other crypto companies that were under the spotlight. It is a “great time to remember” Armanino LLP’s specialized crypto assurance, the firm tweeted last week, referring to a product that verifies customer assets held by crypto firms.

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