DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ U.S. fines 16 Wall Street firms $1.8 bln for talking deals, trades on personal apps
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Michelle Price | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sept 27 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Tuesday fined 16 financial firms, including Barclays (BARC.L), Bank of America , Citigroup , Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and UBS (UBSG.S), a combined $1.8 billion after staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe institutions did not preserve the majority of those personal chats, violating federal rules which require broker-dealers and other financial institutions to preserve business communications. The failings occurred across all 16 firms and involved employees at multiple levels, including senior and junior investment bankers and traders, the SEC said. In one example cited by her office, Bank of America staff used WhatsApp, with one trader writing: "We use WhatsApp all the time but we delete convos regularly." The head of a trading desk routinely directed traders to delete messages on personal devices and to use Signal, including during the CFTC's probe.

☆ U.S. fines 16 Wall Street firms $1.1 billion over record-keeping failures
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Sept 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday fined 16 financial firms, including Barclays (BARC.L), Bank of America , Citigroup , Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and UBS, a combined $1.1 billion over failing to maintain and preserve electronic communications. The sweeping industry probe, which was first reported by Reuters last year and had since been disclosed by multiple lenders, is a landmark case for the agency, regulatory experts said. "The firms admitted the facts...acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws... and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to settle these matters," the SEC said. That likely impeded the SEC's ability to gather evidence in other, unrelated investigations, the agency said. The failings occurred across all 16 firms and involved employees at multiple levels of authority, including supervisors and senior executives, the SEC said.

read moreAbout 10 officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) have arrived in Hong Kong and joined the audit inspection, which started on Monday, three of the people said. State-owned China Southern Airlines and data centre company GDS Holdings are among the U.S.-listed Chinese companies for audit inspection in the Asian financial hub, two separate sources said. Reuters reported last month that U.S. regulators had picked a number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies including e-commerce majors Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) and JD.com Inc (9618.HK) for audit inspection. It was not clear whether the Chinese officials would be present for every step of the inspection process with PCAOB representatives. The onsite inspections by the PCAOB are being conducted in the Hong Kong offices of the selected Chinese companies' audit firms, said two of the sources.

read moreAbout 10 officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) have arrived in Hong Kong and joined the audit inspection, which started on Monday, three of the people said. However, in a speech on Thursday, PCAOB chair Erica Williams said agency officials had arrived in Hong Kong to begin the inspections. As with all inspections, they will look at factors, including the audits of the selected companies and the overall quality control systems of the audit companies. State-owned China Southern Airlines and data centre company GDS Holdings are among the U.S.-listed Chinese companies for audit inspection in the Asian financial hub, two separate sources said. The onsite inspections by the PCAOB are being conducted in the Hong Kong offices of the selected Chinese companies' audit firms, said two of the sources.

☆ U.S. bank CEOs set for congressional grilling by Democrats and Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

People wearing masks for protection against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walk past the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2022. read moreThe CEOs due to testify include the heads of the four largest U.S. banks: JPMorgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon, Wells Fargo's (WFC.N) Charles Scharf, Bank of America's (BAC.N) Brian Moynihan and Citigroup's Jane Fraser. They are set to be joined by US Bancorp (USB.N) CEO Andy Cecere, PNC Financial (PNC.N) CEO William Demchak and Truist's (TFC.N) Bill Rogers, who run the country's largest regional lenders. Democrats are likely to press bank executives on fees, the closure of bank branches in poorer areas and how banks are addressing fraudulent transactions. Some large banks have adopted policies that some Republicans say amount to boycotts of certain industries such as fossil fuels and firearms.

Institutional crypto lending involves lending cryptocurrencies as well as cash in return for a yield. Unsecured lending has become common across the crypto industry, according to the review of filings and the interviews. Crypto research firm Arkham Intelligence put the figure in the region of $10 billion, for instance, while crypto lender TrueFi said at least $25 billion. BULLISH ON BORROWINGWhile Blockchain.com has largely pulled back from unsecured lending, many crypto lenders remain confident about the practice. Sid Powell, co-founder and CEO of unsecured crypto lending platform Maple, said institutional crypto lenders were more cautious after Three Arrows' insolvency, but conditions have since normalized and lenders are now again comfortable lending unsecured.

☆ Big U.S. bank CEOs to be grilled by Congress on consumer, social issues
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Pete Schroeder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The line-up includes the CEOs of the four largest U.S. banks: JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, Bank of America's Brian Moynihan, Citi's Jane Fraser and Wells Fargo's Charles Scharf. They will be joined by USBancorp (USB.N) CEO Andy Cecere, PNC Financial (PNC.N) CEO William Demchak, and Truist Financial CEO William Rogers, who run the country's largest regional lenders. That's a message the banks' executives, lobbyists, and trade groups have conveyed during a marathon of private meetings with key lawmakers over the past few weeks, the sources said. But bank executives are also wary of growing criticism from Republicans, traditionally allies who have pushed back against heavy regulation, over what they see as Wall Street's increasingly liberal leanings on environment and social issues. While executives faced some critical questions from Republicans on such issues last year, the pressure will be greater this time, said analysts.

A spokesperson for BNY Mellon declined to comment on the status of its crypto custody project. “BNY Mellon believes digital assets are here to stay, and increasingly becoming part of the mainstream of finance," he added. Offering to hold clients' digital assets appeared the safest way to enter the market. read moreThe SEC guidance departed from that practice. At a conference last week, the SEC's acting chief accountant said that custodied crypto assets present "unique" risks which meet the definition of a liability under U.S. accounting standards.

Search resuls for: "Michelle Price"

8 mentions found