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☆ U.S., Allies to Boost Efforts to Stop Russia Skirting Sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Laurence Norman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. and its allies are preparing to increase efforts to enforce sanctions against Russia, threatening to hit foreign companies helping Moscow evade economic restrictions. In a speech Tuesday ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo is expected to say that the Kremlin is making an all-out effort to evade Western sanctions.

☆ U.S., allies to tighten screws on Russian sanctions evasion -Treasury's Adeyemo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Adeyemo said a coalition of more than 30 countries would crack down on Russia's purchases of dual-use goods like refrigerators to secure semiconductors needed for its military. The sanctions would also seek to do more to stem the transshipment of oil and other restricted goods through bordering countries, although he did not give details. Officials would also warn companies and individuals still doing business with Russia that they faced sanctions if they continued doing so. They were also providing "actionable" intelligence to countries, including several of Russia’s neighbors, to enable them to stamp out sanctions evasion. Adeyemo acknowledged that Russia's economic data appeared better than expected at the start of the war, but said Western sanctions were forcing the Kremlin to use limited resources to prop up its economy.

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The United States will directly warn companies against evading U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, as Washington seeks to further squeeze Russia's economy. "We're going to go directly to their companies and make very clear to their companies that you have a choice," Adeyemo said. The comments come amid signs that Russia's economy was not hit as heavily as initially expected by western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund last month forecast that Russia's economy would expand by 0.3% in 2023 after shrinking by 2.2% in 2022. "Russia's economy is very small, relative to our coalition, and getting smaller because of the actions that we've taken."

[1/5] David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group, arrives for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (not in picture) at Kishida's official residence in Tokyo, Japan September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/PoolWASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - David Malpass, president of the World Bank, unexpectedly said he would resign in June on Wednesday, leaving open a job that oversees billions of dollars of funding and has a direct impact on poverty, climate change preparation, emergency aid and other issues in developing countries around the globe. RAJIV SHAShah is the former USAID administrator under Obama and currently president of the Rockefeller Foundation, a philanthropic group that says it aims to "promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world." The foundation recently partnered with the U.S. State Department on a carbon offset program at COP27, the international climate conference. MINOUCHE SHAFIKShafik is an Egypt-born, British American economist who is currently president of the London School of Economics and has served as deputy governor of the Bank of England and deputy managing director of the IMF.

☆ Larry Fink has a new chief of staff, an under-the-radar position that's become a powerful post at BlackRock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has named executive Willie Alford as his new chief of staff. Sarah Schaffer, an executive and Fink's prior chief of staff, will take on a new role at BlackRock. This may be especially true if you worked directly with Larry Fink, the firm's chief executive and among the most powerful people on Wall Street. Fink's chief of staff position has vaulted executives into new heights. A more common C-suite roleThe chief of staff role has taken off across corporations and beyond the position's roots in government and military operations.

☆ U.S. Treasury to crack down on Russian sanctions evasion - Adeyemo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department will focus in coming months on cracking down on facilitators and third-country providers helping Russia evade Western sanctions, Treasury said on Friday. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told a meeting of academics and other experts on sanctions and U.S. foreign policy that Treasury will increase its focus on countering sanctions evasion, including by those who may "wittingly or unwittingly" help Russia replenish supplies needed for its military fighting in Ukraine. Treasury provided no immediate details on which "facilitators and third-party providers" would be targeted. The Treasury earlier this month imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and entities in multiple countries that it accused of being tied to a global sanctions evasion network supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. Treasury urges financial firms to examine cloud services
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said while "there is no question that providing consumers with secure and reliable financial services means greater demand for cloud-based technologies,” there needed to be "safe and effective migration" as banks and other financial companies adopt cloud services. "Treasury found that cloud services could help financial institutions become more resilient and secure, but that there were some significant challenges that could detract from these benefits," department officials wrote in their report assessing current cloud adoption in the financial industry. Those issues include financial firms' exposure to potential cyber incidents, an industry-wide reliance on a small number of cloud providers and a lack of technology workers able to help financial institutions deploy cloud services, among other challenges, department officials said. Treasury officials recommended steps that could help the sector adopt cloud computing, adding that it "neither endorses nor discourages cloud service adoption by the sector." Technology companies that provide cloud computing services include Amazon Inc's (AMZN.O) Amazon Web Services, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Oracle Corp (ORCL.N).

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday credited Brian Deese, his outgoing top White House economic adviser, for helping achieve the administration's economic vision for the country. "Brian has ... helped steer my economic vision into reality, and managed the transition of our historic economic recovery to steady and stable growth," Biden said. Deese, who is expected to step down in mid-February, told MSNBC that Biden had not made any decision on his replacement. Other candidates for the NEC job include Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Reuters reported last week. Only the CEA job requires Senate confirmation.

REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueWASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden is still weighing candidates for new top economic advisers, officials familiar with the process said, and no final decisions are expected before next week's State of the Union speech. Biden is focused on Tuesday's address to Congress and had not made a decision on the top jobs at the National Economic Council (NEC) and the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), officials said. Other candidates for the NEC job include Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Reuters reported last week. Only the CEA job requires Senate confirmation. Brainard was widely floated as the frontrunner for Treasury secretary when Biden came to office, only for him to pick Yellen instead.

☆ U.S. targets global sanctions evasion network supporting Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Daphne Psaledakis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and entities in multiple countries that it accused of being tied to a global sanctions evasion network supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. The action targeted a sanctions evasion network that the Treasury said is led by Russia and Cyprus-based arms dealer Igor Zimenkov, who, along with his son, Jonatan, were hit with sanctions on Wednesday. The network has engaged in projects connected to Russian defense capabilities, including supplying high-technology devices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Treasury said. Washington also accused certain members of the network of supporting state-owned Russian defense entities under sanctions. GBD Limited, another company in the network targeted in the sanctions, has attempted to supply weapons systems to an African government, Treasury said.

☆ Deputy Treasury Sec.: Inflation is not an 'American phenomenon' alone
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDeputy Treasury Sec. : Inflation is not an 'American phenomenon' aloneDeputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo joins CNBC's 'Squawk Box' to discuss the ongoing D.C. debt limit drama and inflation.

President Joe Biden is searching for a replacement for National Economic Council (NEC) Director Brian Deese, who is expected to leave soon. Interviews are still ongoing to replace him, according to the sources who declined to discuss an ongoing personnel process. Biden's team is also starting to craft an economic message for his expected 2024 re-election campaign. But reducing high inflation became the administration's top economic priority last year as rising costs began to anger voters. She previously served as the Treasury's point person on international affairs during the Obama administration.

☆ Fed's Lael Brainard among leading contenders for top White House economic post
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Lael Brainard, vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, listens to a question during an interview in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard is a top candidate to take the most important economic position in the White House. Biden named Brainard vice chair at the Fed in 2022; she also was considered as a possible successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Biden reappointed last year. Brainard is one of multiple candidates being considered and interviews for the position are continuing, according to a White House spokesman familiar with the matter. For her part, Brainard could garner support from progressives who are in favor of strong bank regulation and easier monetary policy.

☆ Candidates to become top Biden economist include Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard, Treasury official Wally Adeyemo
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The process to replace Deese as head of the powerful National Economic Council remains ongoing and the situation is fluid, the person said. The Washington Post first reported the leading candidates to replace Deese. Brainard was viewed as a leading contender to become Fed chair before Biden ultimately decided to renominate Jerome Powell. Brainard, a former Treasury official in the Obama administration and a Fed governor since 2014, was instead elevated to vice chair, the central bank’s No. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo on October 13, 2022 in Washington, DC.

☆ U.S. Treasury emphasizes IRS customer service as tax seasons begins
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The new hires will help to slash call waiting times and shorten the processing time for paper tax returns and documents as part of a first stage that will be followed later by the ramping up of auditing of tax returns to curb evasion, according to Treasury officials. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told reporters that the 5,000 new customer service hires will be fully trained by Feb. 20, when call volume from taxpayers typically increases. FUNDING FIGHTThe improvements coincide with preparations by the Treasury and IRS to unveil a 10-year spending plan for the $80 billion in IRS funding six months after the IRA was enacted. Democrats passed the funding to reverse a more than decade-long slide in IRS funding that has reduced its staffing and audit levels. The bulk of the new hires will replace retiring employees and increase customer service and information technology staffing, but the claims are perpetuated on social media and in statements to the media.

☆ Tax season starts with boosted IRS workforce, new technology as agency begins to deploy $80 billion in funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tax season kicked off for individual filers Monday with a bigger IRS customer service team and enhanced technology as the agency begins to deploy its nearly $80 billion in funding. Over the past several months, the IRS has hired 5,000 new customer service staff, aiming to "significantly increase" the number of answered calls, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo told reporters Friday. IRS service was flagged as one of the agency's "most serious problems" in the National Taxpayer Advocate's 2022 annual report, with only 13% of callers reaching live assistance during the 2022 filing season. The agency also plans to improve customer service through technology, including the ability for filers to respond to certain IRS notices online and for the IRS to scan paper returns. "These improvements showcase how we are modernizing both technology and customer service to bring the IRS into the 21st century and how the IRS plans to deploy [Inflation Reduction Act] resources in the years to come," Adeyemo said.

☆ As tax season starts, U.S. Treasury emphasizes IRS customer service over audits
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service kicks off the 2023 income tax filing season on Monday armed with 5,000 new customer service representatives to slash call waiting times as the Biden administration implements $80 billion in new IRS funding. The new hires and technology improvements to more efficiently process paper tax returns and documents represent an early emphasis on improving services, according to U.S. Treasury officials. FUNDING FIGHTThe improvements come as the Treasury and IRS are preparing to unveil a 10-year spending plan for the $80 billion in IRS funding, six months after the IRA was enacted. "In just five months since the IRA’s passage, we've made meaningful progress to deliver the service American taxpayers deserve." Democrats passed the funding to reverse a more than decade-long slide in IRS funding that has reduced its staffing and audit levels.

☆ G-7 agrees to review level of price cap on Russian oil in March: U.S. Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Group of Seven officials have agreed to review the level of the price cap on exports of Russian oil in March, later than originally planned in order to give time to assess the market after more caps are placed on oil products from Russia, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday. The G-7 economies, the European Union and Australia agreed on Dec. 5 to ban the use of Western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for sea-borne Russian oil priced above $60 per barrel as part of Western sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. The coalition plans on Feb. 5 to set two caps on Russian oil products, one on products that trade at a premium to crude, such as diesel or gas oil, and one for products that trade at a discount to crude, such as fuel oil. "The Deputies agreed that this approach will better calibrate the price cap policy for refined products, given the wide range of market prices at which these products trade," Treasury said after U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo met virtually with coalition officials on Friday. The coalition had initially planned to review the level of the cap sometime in February, two months after its implementation.

REUTERS/Vitaly NevarWASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Group of Seven officials have agreed to review the level of the price cap on exports of Russian oil in March, later than originally planned in order to give time to assess the market after more caps are placed on oil products from Russia, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday. The coalition had initially planned to review the level of the cap sometime in February, two months after its implementation. Treasury officials have said the oil price cap has two goals: cutting Russia's revenues by institutionalizing heavy discounts on its oil bought by big consumers like China and India, and ensuring global oil markets are well supplied. "As long as the price cap continues to meet the Coalition’s dual goals, the Deputies agreed to undertake a review of the level of the crude price cap in March," Treasury said. The March date allows the coalition to assess developments in global markets after implementation of the refined products caps, and to be briefed on an EU technical review of the crude price cap, it said.

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities said on Wednesday they have arrested the majority shareholder and cofounder of Hong Kong-registered virtual currency exchange Bitzlato Ltd for allegedly processing $700 million in illicit funds. It also broke rules requiring significant vetting of customers and failed to meet requirements aimed at preventing money laundering, authorities said. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration 1 2Prosecutors said Bitzlato knowingly serviced U.S. customers and conducted transactions with U.S.-based exchanges using U.S. online infrastructure. "Identifying Bitzlato as a primary money laundering concern effectively renders the exchange an international pariah," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said at the news conference. "None of the mainstream financial institutions will deal with an entity identified as a primary money laundering concern," she said.

☆ U.S. to announce international cryptocurrency action -statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will "announce a major, international cryptocurrency enforcement action" on Wednesday, it said in a statement, adding the U.S. Treasury Department will also make an announcement. "The U.S. Department of the Treasury will also announce an action in this space," the statement said. U.S. officials, including Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, will deliver remarks at 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) in Washington, according to the statement. Other officials will include the associate deputy director of the FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Susan Heavey, editing by Paul Grant and Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Justice Department just shut down little-known crypto exchange Bitzlato and arrested its Russian founder in what authorities claim is a huge blow to crypto crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bitzlato is a little-known crypto exchange that was just shut down by the Justice Department. FBI agents arrested Anatoly Legkodymov, the founder of crypto exchange Bitzlato, on Tuesday. US authorities alleged that the site laundered millions tied to illicit Russian finances. The Justice Department and Treasury Department allege that the Hong Kong-registered platform laundered more than $700 million, some of which were tied to illicit Russian finances. Bitzlato is a small crypto exchange, which hasn't received mainstream attention until Legkodymov's arrest.

☆ Yellen leads new U.S.-Africa policy with trip to Senegal, Zambia, South Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We believe that Africa's growth will be a key driver of global growth over the coming decades," a senior Treasury official told reporters. But some African countries, including Zambia, have soured on Chinese lending and are looking for alternatives, experts say. Yellen has criticized Beijing - now the world's largest creditor - for not moving quickly to restructure the debt of poor countries in Africa. The topic will be a key issue when she visits Zambia, the Treasury official said. Biden in December proposed that the African Union be included in the Group of 20 major economies to give African countries a bigger seat at the table.

Meanwhile, a sharp slowdown is forecast in Europe because of energy shortages linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A key part of that drive would be ensuring that the Internal Revenue Service was modernized to be able to manage the tax credits and collect the revenues owed. Adeyemo said he had no update on plans to modify the law to address those concerns. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is due to travel to Senegal, South Africa and Zambia in January. Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Andrea RicciOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit kicks off under China's long shadow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Trade between Africa and China last year surged to $254 billion last year, up about 35% as Chinese exports increased on the continent. “We are not interested in the views of any other countries on China’s role in Africa,” Qin said at the Semafor forum. Asked whether Biden administration officials would directly approach U.S. concerns about Chinese involvement in Africa during this week’s meetings, officials bristled. Those include Africa, South America and the Middle East, where China is eyeing military and economic expansion. U.S. officials have also expressed concerns that China is looking to establish a military base on the western coast of Africa.

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