Our roundup also includes retail giants eying stablecoin adoption, Disney and Comcast suing Midjourny over IP pirating, and Trump reversing Biden-era cybersecurity initiatives.
United States
AI
Disney and Comcast have sued (subscription) Midjourney claiming that it had “pirated” their libraries.
Crypto
Retail interest in stablecoin issuance grows, with Walmart and Amazon considering minting their own versions of the digital asset.
SEC and Ripple agree to release $125m held in escrow as 2020 lawsuit wraps up. $50m will be transferred to the SEC, while $75m will return to Ripple after it secured a refund from a lower court.
Data/Cybersecurity
A major grocery distributor was hit by a cyberattack that forced it to shut down some of its systems and affected its ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders.
President Trump issued an executive order reversing several Biden-era cybersecurity initiatives.
ESG
The EPA has proposed the repeal of regulations that limit emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Healthcare
FDA to use AI to improve the efficiency of drug approvals, while approval of some drugs face delays due to heavy workloads.
Regulation
Nominated CFTC chair Brian Quintenz was grilled by senators over industry ties and commitment to bipartisanship.
Enforcement
A federal judge has blocked the CFPB’s attempt to withdraw a racial discrimination settlement reached with a mortgage lender, while its top enforcement official resigns.
Technology
Massive Google Cloud outage affected multiple industries.
China
China is planning to remove tariffs on all imports from almost all African countries, is reportedly seeking closer economic ties with trade partners in order to better position itself for longer term trade tensions with the United States.
Canada
Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) adopts new rules to help return disgorged funds to investors.
Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is proposing reforms to streamline and modernize disclosure requirements for the mining sector.
EU
The EU’s energy commissioner has been quoted (subscription) as suggesting that a data centre energy efficiency package may be on the way.
ESMA has published final reports in its efforts to streamline prospectus rules.
The European Commission is updating the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (4MLD) identifying third countries that have strategic deficiencies in their AML and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the EU.
France
SG-Forge, a subsidiary of the Societe Generale Group, is to launch a USD CoinVertible stablecoin on the Ethereum and Solana public blockchains.
Hong Kong
The HK SFC is consulting on new rules that would restrict the use of names deemed “misleading” in order to enhance investor protection. Under the proposals the current list would be expanded to include crypto terms.
India
India’s central bank may move (subscription) to tighten rules for overseas remittances by resident Indians, barring them from holding foreign currency deposits with lock-in periods.
International
The IFRS Foundation has published an “initial set” of 17 profiles of jurisdictions that have formally committed to adopting ISSB Standards or have introduced sustainability-related disclosure requirements.
BIS reports that many financial authorities are already experimenting with, developing or using generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) applications for supervision purposes.
Basel committee makes climate risk disclosure for bank regulators voluntary.
Japan
10 years since Japan adopted its Corporate Governance Code, listed companies have improved capital allocation, transparency, and have begun to bring in foreign investors.
Japanese auto parts maker Marelli Holdings, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, announced Wednesday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection through a US court.
Spain
Spain’s prime minister was forced to apologize for being misled by a top aide who has been accused of corruption. Kickbacks connected with the awarding of public works contracts are allegedly at the heart of the matter.
Switzerland
NatWest will relocate its wealth operations from Switzerland to the UK in an effort to streamline and reduce costs.
UK
The PRA has published a feedback statement to its discussion paper on a repo-led operating framework including proposals that would recalibrated the indexed long-term repo (ILTR) facility. The document summarizes the feedback received and includes its position on key issues that respondents had raised. An ILTR guide has also been released by the regulator.
The FRC has sanctioned KPMG and its audit engagement partner for relying on the work of another firm when auditing the Carr Group’s financial statements.
