United States
Cybersecurity
Apple and Google remove data-stealing SparkCat malware from their stores. The associated apps were downloaded more than 242,000 through Google’s store suggesting a large number of potential victims.
Data
House Republicans launched a data privacy legislation working group.
Enforcement
CFTC ordered Florida man to pay $7.6m for fraudulently misrepresenting that an offered token was backed by gold, among other misstatements.
ESG
Goldman Sachs has dropped an internal diversity rule (subscription) that barred it from advising all male, all white boards on company flotations.
The FCC will probe NBC’s DEI efforts (subscription).
Macquarie exited the net-zero banking alliance.
Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda released a statement on “flawed” climate disclosure rule.
Regulation
Canada, Mexico and the EU called US tariffs on steel and aluminium unjustified and have threatened to retaliate.
House Financial Service Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) introduce resolutions under the Congressional Review act to overturn overdraft caps set by the CFPB.
China
President Trump has postponed the US ban on TikTok, which is once again available on US app stores.
China’s securities regulator is exploring relaxing rules in order to permit firms to launch multi-asset ETFs (subscription) and other index lined products. The move is intended to help stimulate China’s capital markets.
PwC reduces number of partners in China after regulatory action against it in connection with its allegedly deficient audits of the China Evergrande Group.
EU
An academic paper purportedly identifying collusion by market makers at the EU’s exchanges caught our eye. If our understanding of it is correct, the argument being put forward is that collusion is accomplished by way of market makers being able to infer, based on order size, that they are dealing with another market maker rather than a retail investor. They then make trading decisions accordingly and to the detriment of other investors. Normally this would have merited an article in GRIP. But the paper is based on a hypothetical and complex “trading game”. The observations of outcomes derived from this hypothetical game are then applied to the data set available in order to “prove” the presence of collusion. Assessing the paper’s significance and merit has proven challenging as a result.
ESMA has launched a consultation on a simplified disclosure template for private securitizations.
It is also consulting on changes intended to improve settlement efficiency in EU financial markets.
India
Prime Minister Modi visited the United States in what was widely reported as a constructive trip against the backdrop of US tariffs targeting other countries.
Japan
Merger talks between the automotive giants Honda and Nissan collapsed with some observers suggesting that Nissan’s 2018 leadership crisis stemming from the financial misconduct allegations surrounding Carlos Ghosn was at least partially to blame (remarkable given the fact that these events took place 8 years ago).
Myanmar
Thailand’s army rescued over 260 people who had been trafficked and then trapped working in online scam centers on the border between Myanmar and Thailand illustratings the industrial scale of these operations.
UK
BP is widely expected to pivot away from renewables as its poor profitability has made it a target for activist investors.
A third runway for Heathrow airport has been approved by the UK government following years of opposition to this significant expansion.
