GRIP Extra: TikTok fined €530m, Kohl’s CEO dismissed

Other news includes the CFPB moving to scrap Biden-era medical debt credit reporting exemption, the EU reciprocally seizing billions of Russian funds, and the DOJ accusing CVS, Humana, Elevance of paying kickbacks.

United States

Conduct

The CEO of Kohl’s has been dismissed (subscription) following conflict of interest allegations.

Cybersecurity

A data breach affecting Connecticut’s largest healthcare system, Yale New Haven Health, potentially exposed the personal details of more than 5.5 million people.

Recent DOJ actions suggest Biden-era cyber fraud enforcement still ongoing, says Cybersecurity Dive.

Enforcement

FinCEN finds Cambodia-based Huione Group to be responsible for money laundering and proposes a rule to sever it from the US financial system.

DOJ accused CVS, Humana, Elevance of paying kickbacks to Medicare Advantage brokers.

Judge rules that Apple failed to reform its App Store to conform to antitrust law, refers company to DOJ for criminal prosecution.

Regulation

CFPB asked a federal court to eliminate a Biden-era rule which prevented credit reports from including medical debt.

Market maker Citadel Securities sent the SEC a letter warning of risks connected to exchanges’ plans to implement 24-hour trading.

Stablecoin regulation will be decided by May 26, according to Senator John Thune.


China

China will likely lift (subscription) sanctions on members of the European Parliament as it seeks to improve relations with the Bloc.

China signals that it will open trade talks with the US.


Canada

RBC has axed its $500m sustainable finance target, blaming anti-greenwashing laws. RBC and other Canadian banks have recently exited the Net Zero Alliance, which was led by current Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.


EU

Euroclear intends to seize (subscription) about €3bn ($3.4bn) of Russian funds to compensate investors whose cash was seized in Russia.

TikTok has been fined (subscription) an astonishing €530m for sending European users’ data to China. Parent company ByteDance has vowed to appeal the decision and record penalty levied by the Irish DPC.


India

Reuters has reported that India’s markets regulator has accused Pranav Adani, director of several Adani group companies and the nephew of the billionaire founder of breaching insider trading regulations.


International

Azerbaijan, host of last year’s COP29 has promised to deliver (subscription) its overdue climate action plan by September.

The IFRS Foundation has proposed targeted amendments to the ISSB S2 standard. A key change is relief for firms from having to measure and disclose scope 3 category emissions associated with financial activities and derivatives.


Japan

Japan’s Rakuten intends to invest at least $100 million in India to scale up its technology, infrastructure and hiring in the country with the aim of strengthening its global operations.


Singapore

Singapore’s investigation into the shipment from the country of Nvidia AI chips banned from China continues.


Spain

Spain’s electricity grid operator has ruled out (subscription) cyberattack as the cause of the blackout that severely impacted Spain and Portugal earlier in the week. The cause of the disruption has not yet been identified and continues to be investigated.


UK

Online operations at British retailer Marks and Spencer are still down following the cyber attack last week impacting not only orders, but also revenues and share price.

The supermarket chain Co-op has also had to take down some of its systems following a cyber attack and is attempting to limit the damage and the premium retailer Harrods has also been affected by an attack.