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REUTERS/John Sibley/File PhotoLONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Odey Asset Management is in advanced talks to move funds and staff to other asset managers as it grapples with the fallout of sexual misconduct allegations against its founder Crispin Odey. A spokesperson for the hedge fund declined further comment on Thursday. Hedge funds such as OAM rely on leverage from prime brokerage service providers to make their market bets. Without a prime broker, a hedge fund which needs to borrow stocks cannot function. A spokesperson for OAM also declined to comment on whether the moves signalled that the hedge fund would close.

Persons: Crispin Odey, John Sibley, Odey, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, James Hanbury, Harriett Baldwin, Nell Mackenzie, Sinead Cruise, Dhara Ranasignhe, Alexander Smith Organizations: REUTERS, Odey, Management, Financial Times, Tortoise Media, Reuters, UBS, Authority, Asset Management, FCA, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Westminster, London, Britain

The Additional Chief Secretary, G. Anupama, said in a text message, "Enquiry is underway" and directed Reuters to the health minister for Haryana state, Anil Vij, for further details. Its chief minister and health minister, to whom Yashpal also sent his complaint, did not respond to requests for comment. Naresh Kumar Goyal, the founder of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, told Reuters in December his company did nothing wrong in the production of the cough syrup. The bribery allegation was one of about half a dozen claims of corruption by Yashpal against Taneja in the letter. Yashpal told Reuters he did not comply, because he did not feel comfortable bringing such details to the deputy of someone he had accused of corruption.

Persons: Sagnia, Edward McAllister, Yashpal, Manmohan Taneja, Taneja, Maiden, Yashpal –, –, Shatrujeet Kapur, Kapur, Anupama, Anil Vij, Vij, Naresh Kumar Goyal, Goyal, Narendra Modi, Taneja's, Lalit Kumar Goel, Goel, Krishna N, Jennifer Rigby, Sara Ledwith, Michele Gershberg Organizations: REUTERS, World Health Organization, WHO, Reuters, Corruption Bureau, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, pharma, Corruption, Taneja, EG, Thomson Locations: Yundum, Gambia, DELHI, Haryana, New Delhi, Vietnam, India, London

☆ Microsoft is facing another hurdle in closing a $70 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard: a new FTC lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FTC just filed a new lawsuit to seek to stop Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has been trying to win the OK from global regulators for the nearly $70 billion purchase. This suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, seeks to stop the deal from closing. "We welcome the opportunity to present our case in federal court," Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice chair and president, said in a statement Monday. "By filing in federal court to enjoin the transaction, the FTC is showing that it won't back down in the face of Microsoft's escalatory tactics."

Persons: Brad Smith, Matt Kent Organizations: FTC, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Activision, Morning, Federal Trade Commission, Sony, PlayStation, Nintendo, UK's, Public Citizen, Public Locations: San Francisco, China, Japan, Brazil, South Korea

☆ Activision intervenes in Microsoft challenge to UK regulator's block
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) has been given permission to intervene in Microsoft's (MSFT.O) legal battle with Britain's anti-trust regulator over its decision to block the $69 billion takeover. Activision has now been given permission to intervene in Microsoft's appeal at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which is expected to be heard next month. That means Activision will also be able to make their case to the tribunal. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also blocked the deal, a decision which is under appeal by Microsoft. Microsoft's president Brad Smith, who met Britain's finance minister for talks on Tuesday, said earlier this week that the company wants to address regulators' concerns about the Activision acquisition.

Persons: gaming's, Brad Smith, Sam Tobin, William James Our Organizations: Activision, Britain's, Microsoft, Competition, Britain, CMA, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: Microsoft's

☆ Robinhood Markets removes three crypto tokens
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

June 9 (Reuters) - Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O) said on Friday it is removing three cryptocurrency tokens from its platform, days after the U.S. securities regulator's crackdown against the industry's biggest exchanges. Customers will not be able to trade Solana, Cardano or Polygon using Robinhood effective June 27, the online brokerage said. Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Manya Saini, Shounak Dasgupta Organizations: Thomson Locations: Solana, Cardano, Bengaluru

But the Coinbase case will be the biggest test yet of the regulator's jurisdiction over the industry. To argue that crypto assets are securities, the SEC has relied on a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1946. WHAT MAKES A CRYPTO ASSET A SECURITY? In the few cases that have been decided in court, judges have agreed with the SEC that specific crypto assets are securities. The SEC has alleged in the Coinbase case that 13 different digital assets sold on the platform are securities.

Persons: Binance, Coinbase, Howey, XRP, Carol Goforth, Goforth, Brian Armstrong, Jody Godoy, Tom Hals, Nick Zieminski, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: SEC, Securities, Exchange Commission, European Union, Supreme, Ripple Labs, University of Arkansas, Twitter, Thomson Locations: U.S, Manhattan, Solana, Cardano, Florida, XRP, New York

☆ UK's payments regulator lays down mandatory reimbursements in APP fraud victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 7 (Reuters) - Britain's Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) said on Wednesday it has made it mandatory for banks and payment firms to reimburse victims of online bank fraud within five days, in cases where users at a business send money to a bank account controlled by fraudsters. Thousands of people have seen their savings swept away in recent years by an unprecedented wave of fake online bank transactions hitting Britain, called authorised push payment (APP) fraud. The PSR said the new rules will be imposed on the Faster Payments system, where the vast majority of APP fraud has occurred so far, with the reimbursement requirements coming into force next year. The regulator also said that all payment firms will be incentivised to take action, with both sending and receiving firms equally splitting the reimbursement costs. The PSR last year said it planned to introduce new rules to tackle APP fraud once the parliament expands the powers of the regulator.

Persons: Aby Jose Koilparambil, Savio D'Souza, Nivedita Organizations: Systems, fraudsters, PSR, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Coinbase falls 10% after the SEC sues rival crypto exchange Binance for violating securities law
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Coinbase stock fell 10% on Monday after the SEC sued Binance for violating securities rules. Coinbase is currently under SEC investigation and could face an enforcement action tied to its listings of potential unregistered securities. The SEC accused Binance of breaking the law by offering unregistered securities to the general public, including its BNB token and BUSD stable coin. The debate is whether cryptocurrencies are in fact securities, which the SEC has argued yes, they are, while crypto firms like Coinbase have argued the opposite. Coinbase offers its own stablecoin that is listed on its exchange and was not registered with the SEC, and the company also offers its own staking platform, two things the SEC just sued Binance for offering.

Persons: Binance, Coinbase, Bitcoin, —, Changpeng Zhao, Sam Bankman Fried's, shockwaves Organizations: SEC, Service, US Securities and Exchange Commission, Binance, Coinbase

☆ Microsoft flags over $400 mln charge for Irish privacy violation fine on LinkedIn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 1 (Reuters) - Software major Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Thursday it expected to take a charge of about $425 million in the current quarter for a potential fine from an Irish regulator over alleged privacy violations at its unit LinkedIn. The Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) launched an investigation into the professional networking platform in 2018 over whether its targeted advertising practices violated the European data protection law. The regulator's order is not public and Microsoft said that LinkedIn was informed about the preliminary decision in April. Microsoft added it would dispute the proposed fine after receiving a final order. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: IDPC, Yuvraj Malik, Rashmi Organizations: Software, Microsoft Corp, Irish Data Protection, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Irish, Bengaluru

☆ Factbox: Penalties imposed on Australian companies over the recent years
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Here are some of the major penalties imposed by the regulators:AMP LTD (AMP.AX)Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP Ltd was fined a court-mandated penalty of A$24 million in May for billing dead clients for insurance and financial advice. In October 2022, ANZ was penalised A$25 million for failing to provide certain benefits it had agreed to give customers. In October 2022, CBA's trading unit was fined A$20 million for compliance failures in delivering financial services. NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK (NAB.AX)National Australia Bank, the country's second-largest bank, was charged A$18.5 million penalty in August 2021 by a court for issuing misleading fee disclosure statements or none at all. WESTPAC BANKING CORP (WBC.AX)Australia's third-biggest lender, Westpac Banking Corp was ordered to pay A$113 million in penalties in April 2022 for multiple compliance failures across its businesses.

☆ Meta offers to limit use of ad data to address UK competition concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) - Britain's competition watchdog on Friday said social media giant Meta (META.O) had offered to limit its use of other businesses' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace service to address the regulator's competition concerns. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was minded to accept the commitments, which include advertisers being able to opt out of allowing their data to be used to improve the Facebook Marketplace classified ads platform. CMA executive director of enforcement Michael Grenfell said: "Reducing the risk of Meta unfairly exploiting the data of businesses who advertise on its platform for its own competitive advantage could help many UK businesses who advertise there. "We are now consulting on these commitments which we believe, at this stage, will address our concerns." Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Paul Sandle in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Crypto firm Ripple buys Swiss startup as SEC crackdown forces companies to consider overseas moves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Oct. 19, 2021. "This is the largest deal we've seen in the last year," Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, told CNBC on a call Tuesday. Garlinghouse said last week that the firm will have spent $200 million in total defending itself against the SEC lawsuit. Numerous crypto industry insiders have been calling for a clear regulatory framework from the U.S. Congress to help give companies clarity over how they can operate in a way that's legally sound. WATCH: Ripple will have spent $200 million fighting SEC lawsuit, CEO says

☆ Brazil's antitrust watchdog approves L'Oreal deal to buy Aesop
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SAO PAULO, May 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's antitrust regulator Cade on Wednesday recommended the approval of the sale of Natura & Co's (NTCO3.SA) Aesop brand to French cosmetics company L'Oreal (OREP.PA), according to the country's daily gazette. Last month, L'Oreal agreed to buy Australian luxury brand Aesop from Natura for an enterprise value of $2.53 billion. Under the regulator's rules, the approval is considered definitive within 15 calendar days of its publication, if no appeals are filed. Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ US FDA staff flag 'serious' safety risks for Intercept's NASH treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) briefing document highlighted increased risk of diabetes and liver injury from using the obeticholic acid (OCA) oral tablets for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). "During the course of our review, FDA identified modest benefits and serious risks of OCA for treatment of NASH," the staff said in the document and listed increased risk of sludge formation in the gall bladder and imbalance of certain lipids. The staff asked the regulator's panel of outside advisors, who are meeting on Friday, to consider whether the modest benefits from using the drugs for NASH treatment outweigh the serious risks associated with it. The panel's meeting on Friday is the first such meeting for a NASH treatment. However, due to risks of serious liver injury, FDA restricted its usage in 2021 to primary biliary cholangitis patients with advanced cirrhosis, or severe liver scarring.

☆ Sarepta surges after FDA panel backs Duchenne gene therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT.O) soared 29% premarket on Monday as a backing by the U.S. health regulator's advisers increased the certainty of an accelerated approval for the company's gene therapy for a muscle-wasting genetic disorder. Eight of the 14 advisers to the Food and Drug Administration late Friday voted that the company had enough data to support an accelerated approval for its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The vote came after FDA staff had earlier last week voiced concerns that the data from the company's mid-stage trial lacked "unambiguous evidence" about benefits from the therapy. TD Cowen analyst Ritu Baral expects an approval for the therapy, especially considering the FDA leadership's interest in promoting biomarker-based accelerated approvals for gene therapies. The FDA, often follows the advice of its expert advisers but is not obligated to do so, is slated to make a decision on accelerated approval by May 29.

☆ U.S. demands recall of 67 million air bag inflators
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Air bag inflators that project metal fragments into vehicle occupants, rather than properly inflating the attached air bag, create an unreasonable risk of death and injury." ARC air bag inflators are in General Motors (GM.N), Chrysler-parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI), BMW (BMWG.DE), Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), Kia Corp (000270.KS) and other vehicles. GM on Friday agreed to recall nearly 1 million vehicles with ARC air bag inflators after a rupture in March resulted in facial injuries to a driver. NHTSA said through January 2018, 67 million of thesubject driver and passenger frontal air bag inflators. Over the last decade, more than 67 million Takata air bag inflators have been recalled in the United States and more than 100 million worldwide, the biggest auto safety callback in history.

☆ The UK has restricted Microsoft and Activision from acquiring an interest in each other after blocking $68.7 billion merger
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The UK is restricting Microsoft and Activision from acquiring an interest in each other. The competition regulator published an interim order to prevent any action without its consent. The decision comes weeks after it made a decision to block a $68.7 billion merger between the two. The UK's competition regulator has issued an interim order to restrict Microsoft and Activision from acquiring an interest in each other. It comes weeks after the decision by the regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), to block a $68.7 billion merger between the two companies.

BRUSSELS, May 10 (Reuters) - Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) suffered a setback on Wednesday after Europe's second-highest court sided with Ryanair (RYA.I) and annulled a European Union competition regulator's decision clearing its state bailout. The court also ruled in Ryanair's favour on Wednesday against pandemic state aid measures for SAS (SAS.ST), saying recapitalisation measures did not include sufficient measures to incentivise the Swedish and Danish governments to exit quickly. "We have seen the ruling by the General Court in the EU and will now review the content of the ruling as well as possible ways to proceed. Lufthansa and several other European airlines received state aid following a protracted travel slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which were approved by the EU executive subject to conditions. The Commission can appeal to the Court of the Justice of the European Union, Europe's highest, on points of law.

☆ Coinbase CEO says SEC is on 'lone crusade,' dials back on suggestion exchange may relocate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase , Brian Armstrong, doubled down on his criticisms of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chief Gary Gensler Monday, but added the exchange would not leave the U.S. despite the regulatory uncertainty the company is facing in the country. At the heart of the regulator's dispute with Coinbase, and a host of other crypto companies, is the allegation that it is selling unregistered securities to investors. "The SEC is a bit of an outlier here," Armstrong told CNBC's Dan Murphy in an interview in Dubai Monday. "There's kind of a lone crusade, if you will, with Gary Gensler, the chair there, and he has taken a more anti-crypto view for some reason." "I don't think he's necessarily trying to regulate the industry as much as maybe curtail it.

☆ New rules compel leading China financial data provider to limit offshore access, sources tell Reuters
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China's leading financial data provider Wind Information Co is limiting offshore access to some business and economic data, in response to new rules from the country's cybersecurity regulator finalized last September. China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The second source was also told by another Wind salesperson that the restrictions were put in place after the CAC unveiled new data rules last year.

The cash-strapped airline wants the tribunal to accept its plea and is seeking an interim moratorium to save its assets, a move the lessors oppose. Go First did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lessors' bid to deregister the planes. Engine failures have cost the airline 108 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) in lost revenue and expenses, it said. Amid the dispute between the lessors and the troubled airline, banks with exposure to it are awaiting the tribunal's decision to decide their next course of action, two people involved in the talks told Reuters. The company owes financial creditors 65.21 billion rupees ($798 million), its bankruptcy filing showed, and had not defaulted on any of those dues by the end of April.

☆ SEC issues largest ever whistleblower award of $279 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued its largest ever award of nearly $279 million to a whistleblower whose information helped the regulator's enforcement action, it said on Friday. The award is more than double the $114 million that it had issued in October 2020. Payments to whistleblowers are made out of an investor protection fund that was established by Congress and financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators. Awards to whistleblowers can range from 10% to 30% of the money collected when the monetary sanctions exceed $1 million. Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG, May 4 (Reuters) - China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information Co told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The restrictions on offshore users' access to certain Wind data have expanded since last September, said the first source. Reuters has reported, citing sources that Chinese data providers including company databases Qichacha, partially owned by Wind, and TianYanCha have stopped opening to offshore users for at least months.

☆ An airline had to remind its pilots to keep cockpits 'sterile' after one invited a friend onto the flight deck and asked crew to serve her food and alcohol, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Air India pilot spent over an hour in the cockpit with a "female friend" on a flight to Dubai in February. According to a complaint reported by Indian media, he asked cabin crew to serve her food and alcohol. On Monday, Air India reminded its 1,800 pilots of the "sterile" cockpit rule, reports say. On Monday, Air India warned all its pilots — numbering over 1,800 per the Economic Times — reminding them of the sterile cockpit rule. A spokesperson for Air India told Insider it is conducting an internal investigation into the incident alongside the regulator's independent inquiry.

May 1 (Reuters) - Regulators seized First Republic Bank (FRC.N) and sold its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Monday, in a deal to resolve the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and draw a line under a lingering banking turmoil. Shares of JPMorgan rose 2% on Monday, while those of mid-tier banks fell and the KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) closed down 2.7%. [1/3] People walk past a First Republic Bank branch in San Francisco, California, U.S. April 28, 2023. "This is not the world financial crisis, this is not the savings and loan crisis. The failed bank's 84 offices in eight states will reopen as branches of JPMorgan Chase Bank from Monday, it added.

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