United States
AI
Reddit has filed a lawsuit (subscription) against AI startup Anthropic for using its online discussion data without permission. Battle lines are increasingly being drawn between content owners and AI operators who use content to train their models.
Crypto
ETF issuers urged the SEC to return to “first-to-file” rules.
Data/Cybersecurity
A data breach at the Lee Enterprises, a large US newspaper publisher, led to the theft of the personal information of just under 40,000 individuals.
The FBI is investigating a breach of the phone of the White House chief of staff. The hackers reportedly used the information gleaned from the phone to impersonate Susie Wiles.
Trump’s picks for CISA director and national cyber director gained widespread industry support.
Crowdstrike, Microsoft, and other companies collaborate on threat actor naming plan.
ESG
BlackRock has been removed from a Texas state investment fund blacklist after its change of tack on ESG.
Healthcare
Bristol Myers Squibb has said that it will partner (subscription) with BioNTech in order to develop its cancer drug. Valued at $11bn the deal is reportedly “one of the largest-ever pharma partnerships”.
In another sign of consolidation within the burgeoning pharmaceuticals sector the drug maker Sanofi will buy US biopharma group Blueprint in a deal valued at $9.5bn.
Regulation
The SEC is cutting its workforce by 17%, roughly bringing it back to its 2010 capacity.
After pressure from California and other states, the CFPB resumed a $4.2M redress distribution to former students of defunct sales training company.
Wells Fargo was freed from $2T asset cap that had been in place since 2018.
Bipartisan House group urges the Fed and OCC to reform leverage ratio requirements.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce advocates for increased retail access to private markets, and to cut crypto red tape.
Enforcement
The SEC charged a New Mexico investment adviser with defrauding investors and breach of fiduciary duty over misleading fee disclosures and conflicts of interest.
Technology
Apple’s App Store business has generated $1.3 trillion in sales and while it stresed that 90% of these did not involve a commission to Apple a US court has denied a stay on a ruling requiring the company to stop charging developers for payments made outside of its App Store putting a dent in potential future revenue growth.
China
Citigroup will cut 3,500 technology jobs in China before the end of the year with the moves moving to the bank’s technology centers elsewhere. The move is being touted as a cost-cutting effort, but may also be a reflection of reduced growth and opportunities in the country and region.
Canada
Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) looks to introduce a blanket prohibition on participating in an offering immediately after shorting a stock, to crack down on abuse.
OSC’s chief executive said pause to develop mandatory climate disclosure regime is “not indefinite.”
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) streamlined organization from six divisions to four.
EU
The EU scientific advisory board on climate change has advised against using international carbon credits to meet the 2040 emissions reduction target stating that these ” risk diverting resources from domestic investments and could undermine environmental integrity.”
The EU has fined Delivery Hero and Glovo €329m ($375m) for breaking competition rules. Infractions included a “no-poach” deal and trade secret sharing.
The European Central Bank cut interest rates for an eighth time, widening gap between it and the US Fed, but hints at pause.
Germany
AWS will form a new parent company and subsidiaries in Germany as part of an effort to launch a sovereign European cloud business. The move highlights the increasing prominence of data residency requirements when bidding for business within specific regions globally.
Hong Kong
The HK SFC has joined in a global regulatory effort to curb the activity of finfluencers.
India
KiranaPro, a rapidly expanding Indian grocery statrtup, was hacked and all its data, including the code underpinning its app and operating system has been deleted by hackers who gained access to its root accounts on AWS and GitHub servers reportedly via a former employee’s account.
International
The IFRS Foundation has published educational material about greenhouse gas emissions disclosure requirements, including the context, reasoning and specific aspects these.
The OECD has warned that “aggressive” reshoring of supply chains may result in significant GDP loss for some countries and is unlikely to make them more resilient to external shocks.
Singapore
Singapore’s MAS will review its code of corporate governance in order to attempt to strengthen its equities market by attracting potential investors.
Switzerland
The Swiss government has proposed (subscription) tough new capital rules for UBS following its acquisition of Credit Suisse. Under the proposals the bank would need to increase its common equity tier one capital by about $26bn.
UK
Scammers, posing as legitimate taxpayers, stole £47m from the online accounts of about 100,000 people in the UK.
The North Face and Cartier are reportedly the latest victims of cyber attacks. The breaches have been called “small-scale” and “temporary” respectively by the businesses.
The revenues of fintech Monzo have exceeded £1bn ($1.35bn) for the first time with the company adding 2.4m customers in the last financial year. It also reported that an FCA investigation launched in 2021 would likely result in “financial cost” to the company.
The governments Data (Use and Access) Bill, which would permit the use of copyrighted materials by AI companies to train their models unless owners explicitly chose to opt out, suffered an unusual fourth defeat in the House of Lords. There is a possibility that the bill may be shelved in its entirety if a way ouf of the impasse is not found. The fault line between human content creators and owners and AI companies increasingly seen as riding roughshod over intellectual property laws are clear to see.