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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has voted to reverse an unwritten policy whereby it blocked the IPOs of companies that want to ban investor class action lawsuits in their charters and bylaws. The agency said it would allow companies seeking to go public to require that shareholders resolve claims of fraud or other false statements through arbitration rather than court litigation. "The commission is not a merit regulator that decides whether a company's particular method of resolving disputes with its shareholders is good or bad," SEC Chair Paul Atkins said. CalPERS, the California public pension fund, said forced arbitration would "diminish the deterrent effect" of class actions. Ann Lipton, a former class action litigator, said the change would damage the public interest, observing that lawsuits can expose corporate misconduct among other matters.

 

Reuters

Private funds and advisers will now have until Oct 1, 2026 to comply with Biden-era regulations requiring enhanced disclosures, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a second time extended the deadline. The extension will give the SEC time to develop possible changes to make the rules less burdensome, officials said. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last year approved rules mandating private funds and investment advisers to inform regulators confidentially about their exposures to investments, counterparties, currencies, countries and specific industries in order to identify the build-up of risk in the $24 trillion private investment sector.

 

Reuters

KPMG dismissed financial warning signs at Silicon Valley Bank and two other regional banks before they collapsed in 2023, according to a report from a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee. The Big Four firm issued clean audit reports for Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank in the weeks before the lenders failed as rising interest rates slashed the value of capital the banks had available to cover steep customer withdrawals. The report found that KPMG failed to take a wider view of which threats could impact the banks' financial statements. It recommends a slate of proposals to ensure the audit industry responds to market and governance risks, including requiring companies to periodically hire a new auditor. In response, KPMG described the report as "misguided and erroneous," adding it adhered to U.S. audit standards and stood by its audit opinions.

 

Bloomberg Tax

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have successfully defeated appeals from investors who claimed that alleged insider trading and market manipulation by the banks contributed to the collapse of Archegos Capital Management in March 2021. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Archegos did not owe fiduciary duties to the companies whose stocks it owned, thus absolving the banks of liability for allegedly front running the market. The court's decision upheld a previous dismissal and highlighted that there was no evidence the banks acted in Archegos' best interest or tipped clients about its financial troubles.

 

Reuters

The trial of French bank BNP Paribas has begun in Manhattan over its alleged financing of the Sudanese government’s human rights abuses under the rule of Omar Al-Bashir. The Financial Times describes the hearing as "a rare case of a global bank facing a U.S. jury trial over allegations that it enabled human rights abuses through its provision of financial services."

 

Global Investigations Review

Africanews

Financial Times

International investors who are pushing companies to do more on longer-term sustainability issues have cautiously welcomed a call by Donald Trump to ditch quarterly corporate reporting. "Responsible investment people have never been advocates of quarterly reporting, since it tends to encourage a greater focus on trading and less on good ownership," observed David Pitt-Watson, corporate governance expert and Fellow at Cambridge University's Judge Business School. "We want companies to consider the material impact of their strategies on a long-term view and plan accordingly to mitigate any sustainability-related risks, so if moving away from quarterly reporting can help achieve this without impacting transparency and disclosure then it could be positive," said Nick Duncan, Sustainable Investment director at investor Aberdeen.

 

Reuters

Microsoft has seized nearly 340 websites linked to a Nigerian-based phishing service called Raccoon0365, which has reportedly stolen over 5,000 user credentials and generated around $100,000 in cryptocurrency since its launch in July 2024. The service, which operates through a private Telegram channel, enables users to impersonate trusted brands and trick victims into entering their Microsoft login details on fake pages. Microsoft’s assistant general counsel, Steven Masada, highlighted the accessibility of such cybercrime tools, observing: "Cybercriminals don’t need to be sophisticated to cause widespread harm."

 

Reuters

Data from the Federal Reserve published on Tuesday reveals that U.S. industrial production rose just 0.1% in August, reflecting a modest gain in manufacturing activity and a decline in utilities. Manufacturing output, which accounts for three-fourths of total industrial production, rose a better-than-expected 0.2% Excluding autos, factory production ticked up 0.1%. Mining and energy extraction climbed 0.9%, while output at utilities dropped 2%. Relatedly, the Commerce Department reported that business inventories rose 0.2% in July from June, and 1.5% on the year. Retail inventories increased 0.2% in July as estimated in an advance report published last month. They gained 0.2% in June. Motor vehicle inventories rose 0.5%, rather than 0.3% as previously reported. They advanced 0.9% in June. Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, edged up 0.1% as initially reported. Wholesale inventories rose 0.1% in July, while stocks at manufacturers increased 0.3%.

 

Bloomberg

Nasdaq

Import prices in the U.S. rose unexpectedly last month by 0.3%, driven by nonfuel imports, Labor Department data showed Tuesday. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had instead expected prices to fall 0.2%. Import prices exclude duties, such as tariffs imposed on imports by the Trump administration, as well as transportation costs.

 

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on Dubai-based Tyba Ship Management and four vessels associated with the company as part of efforts to curb Houthi fundraising and arms procurement. The sanctions target entities involved in supplying petroleum products to Houthi-controlled ports. The U.S. Department of the Treasury highlighted the ongoing threats posed by the Houthis to U.S. personnel and regional allies. Tyba Ship Management is controlled by Muhammad Al-Sunaydar, a businessman previously designated by the Treasury, and the sanctions have led to the automatic cancellation of the registration of the affected vessels by Panama's ship registry.

 

Seatrade Maritime

Ford is to lay off up to 1,000 workers at its Cologne plant in Germany due to low demand for electric vehicles in Europe. The plant will shift to operating only one shift per day starting January 2026. The company said: "Demand for electric vehicles in Europe remains significantly lower than industry forecasts." The decision adds to the 2,900 company job cuts previously announced in Germany as part of a broader cost-cutting initiative across Europe.

 

ANSA.it

The Local Germany

Cracker Barrel saw its shares fall around 9% to $45.10 in after-hours trading on Wednesday, following a mixed fourth-quarter earnings report. The company, which is still dealing with the fallout from the introduction and subsequent withdrawal of a new streamlined logo that removed an overalls-clad character known as Uncle Herschel, reported $6.8m in profits for the quarter ending August 1st, down from $18.1m a year earlier, along with sales of $868m. It expects total revenue for fiscal 2026 of $3.35bn-$3.45bn, compared with the $3.52bn analysts expected, and a same-store traffic decline of 4%-7%.

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Washington Post

Wall Street Journal

China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is trialling the country’s first domestically produced advanced chipmaking equipment in an effort to challenge western rivals in producing artificial intelligence processors.

 

Financial Times