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The World Federation of Exchanges has said the rise of private capital has undermined the traditional role of stock markets, which are “under threat” after a slump in global stock listings. In an open letter to regulators, policymakers and the investment industry, the umbrella group for exchanges around the world said: “Companies are staying private longer or bypassing public markets entirely. Investors are looking elsewhere. And, as a result, the fundamental role of public markets in supporting innovation, job creation, and equitable wealth distribution is under threat.” The group added: “We will launch a multi-year campaign to investigate and address the structural causes of public market decline, beginning with an urgent focus on the IPO drought.”

 

Financial Times

Investment Executive

World Federation of Exchanges

The 2025 Summer Risk and Compliance Report

Each quarter, Hyperproof takes a deep dive into market trends in the GRC space. A new report just released that compares their data against reports from Accenture, BDO, PWC, and more so that security pros have the best data available to finish the year strong. 

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Wells Fargo has suspended all travel to China after a banker was blocked from leaving the country, Reuters reports. The move follows Chenyue Mao, a Shanghai-born and Atlanta-based managing director at the banking giant, being subjected to an exit ban after she recently entered China. "We are closely tracking this situation and working through the appropriate channels so our employee can return to the United States as soon as possible," Wells Fargo said. A White House official said they could not comment on the reports of Mao being refused permission to leave China.

 

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

The Nikkei newspaper has reported that a court in Beijing has sentenced a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma to 3-1/2 years in prison. The man had been detained since March 2023 on suspicion of spying and had been indicted about a year ago. When asked a question about a Chinese court sentencing an employee of a Japanese pharmaceutical company to prison for espionage, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that the country's judicial authorities handle cases in accordance with the law.

 

U.S. News

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is dispensing with more than 25% of its employees under financial incentive programs to depart the government offered by the White House. The U.S. auto safety agency, which is part of the Transportation Department, is shrinking from 772 employees as of May 31 to 555 under the program. The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration are also both losing more than a quarter of their staff. Representative Rick Larsen, top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, expressed his concern about the cuts, questioning how USDOT can “expedite project delivery and advance safety with a decimated workforce.”

 

U.S. News

Australian carrier Qantas Airways has secured an interim injunction from the New South Wales Supreme Court to prevent third parties from accessing or publishing stolen customer data following a cyber breach. The airline reported that while personal information of approximately 5.7m customers was compromised, there is no evidence that any data has been released, and sensitive information such as credit card details and passport information was not stored in the affected system. Qantas is collaborating with various authorities, including the Australian Federal Police, to investigate the breach thoroughly. The airline has already informed the impacted customers about the specific data fields that were compromised.

 

Reuters

U.K. retailer Co-op has confirmed that all 6.5m of its members had their personal data stolen in a cyber attack earlier this year. CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq said that names, addresses, and contact details were accessed, but no financial or transaction data was compromised. Previously, the company had only said that a “significant number” of its customers' data had been accessed by the hackers, but did not give a precise figure. The breach, which occurred in April, disrupted IT systems, caused store supply issues and forced funeral services to temporarily revert to paper records. Co-op executives told lawmakers recently that many of its systems were protected from attack because it had defences in place which detected unusual behavior within a few hours. The company is however not expecting to make “any significant recovery” of the costs of the hack from insurers as it chose to invest in detection systems rather than cyber insurance policies.

 

The Daily Telegraph

The Guardian

Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to settle a multibillion dollar lawsuit with a group of shareholders over how top executives and directors at Meta handled repeated privacy violations by Facebook. The shareholders were seeking $8bn in damages. It is unclear how much they agreed to settle for. The settlement was announced on Thursday by a lawyer for the shareholders, just before the trial was about to enter its second day in a Delaware court. Meta declined to comment on the settlement. The Meta shareholders had alleged that Zuckerberg's actions led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the data of millions of Facebook users was leaked and used by a political consulting firm.

 

U.S. News

TechCrunch

BBC News

A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California by state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta one day after the Federal Railroad Administration pulled some $4bn in federal grants for the state's ambitious but much-delayed high-speed rail project. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the termination of the grants amounted to "petty, political retribution, motivated by President Trump's personal animus toward California and the high-speed rail project, not the facts on the ground." Reuters notes that the funding cancellation is the latest confrontation between Trump and a Democratic governor who is widely viewed as a leading contender for his party’s 2028 White House nomination.

 

Los Angeles Times

Reuters

A U.S. appeals court has overturned the 2017 fraud conviction of Mark Johnson, a former HSBC executive who served two years in jail for "front-running" a $3.5bn currency trade for Cairn Energy. The Manhattan appeals court ruled that Johnson's conviction was compromised due to a subsequent Supreme Court decision that discredited the fraud theory used in his case. The court expressed "grave doubt" about whether Johnson could have been convicted under an alternative fraud theory. Johnson, in his fifties and British, previously led HSBC's foreign exchange cash trading desk.

 

The Times

Three of the nation's biggest bankers commented Wednesday on the future of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whose ouster is a major point of discussion in the Oval Office due to differing perspectives on the lowering of interest rates. Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, Bank of America head Brian Moynihan, and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, said the U.S. economy depends on the central bank's ability to operate without White House or political interference, joining JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who expressed similar sentiments on Tuesday. “I think central bank independence, not just here in the United States but around the world, has served us incredibly well,” Mr. Solomon said in a CNBC interview. “I think central bank independence, Fed independence, is very important and it’s something we should fight to preserve," Mr. Solomon said, while Ms. Fraser said that independence "is critical to the effectiveness of our capital markets and U.S. competitiveness." Mr. Trump has reportedly drafted a letter firing Mr. Powell, but when asked on Wednesday he said: “We’re not planning on doing anything. I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely.” In recent days he has attacked Mr. Powell over renovations at the Fed's Washington headquarters, describing the costs as "pretty disgraceful."

 

Bloomberg

NBC News

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

The Bank of England (BoE) has urged some lenders to evaluate their resilience against potential U.S. dollar shocks amid growing concern over the stability of the dollar as a cornerstone of global finance. The BoE's Prudential Regulation Authority has requested banks to assess their dollar funding strategies, particularly in the light of White House policies which have raised doubts about the reliability of U.S. support during financial crises.

 

Reuters

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are in discussions to merge, potentially creating the largest railroad in North America that would connect the East and West Coasts. While the merger could streamline operations and enhance delivery efficiency, it faces scrutiny from regulators and concerns from shippers about reduced competition in the freight market.

 

AP News

A probe by Democratic senators has raised concerns about conflicts of interest in telehealth companies' ties to pharmaceutical companies. The report from the offices of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) among others concluded that such partnerships undermine the independent medical judgment of doctors, who may default to prescribing medications first instead of exploring other options and potentially “glossing over the comprehensive evaluation necessary for high-quality patient care.”

 

Washington Post

Juul Labs has received authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell its e-cigarettes in the U.S., following a 2022 federal ban that pushed the company to the brink of bankruptcy. An FDA spokesperson said it had authorized five JUUL e-cigarette products after additional evidence provided by the company demonstrated that the benefits to public health outweighed the risks, namely that the products could appeal to young people. The regulator added that its approval does not mean these tobacco products are safe, and the agency will closely monitor the company’s compliance with rules to limit youth exposure to their marketing. Juul is now the No. 3 e-cigarette brand in the U.S., after Vuse and Geek Bar. Juul represents about 18% of e-cigarette sales in U.S. stores. 

 

Bloomberg

New York Times

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

Members of Jane's Addiction, including guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins, and bassist Eric Avery, have filed lawsuits against singer Perry Farrell in Los Angeles Superior Court following an onstage altercation during a Boston concert, which led to the cancellation of their reunion tour and a planned album. The bandmates are seeking at least £10m, claiming Farrell's behaviour was erratic and culminated in an assault. Their lawsuit states: “With a series of swift blows, [Farrell] single-handedly destroyed the name, reputation, trademark, and viability of the Band.” In response, Farrell and his wife have counter-sued, alleging that Navarro and his bandmates engaged in a bullying campaign against him. Both lawsuits include claims of assault, battery, and emotional distress.

 

Boston Globe