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U.S. bank regulators appear to be making progress toward proposing a revised version of the ‘Basel endgame’ rules, which would implement global standards on how lenders should measure their risk and assign capital accordingly. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) submitted proposals to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review on Thursday. The OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is responsible for reviewing such proposals. Reuters notes intense banking industry opposition to an effort under the Biden administration to adopt rules that would have significantly raised big bank capital requirements.

 

Reuters

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Bloomberg reports that John Hurley, the Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is set to depart the role amid friction with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to people familiar with the matter. The expected departure of  the Trump administration’s top sanctions official comes as U.S. sanctions play an increasingly pivotal role for international investors, global energy flows and geopolitical risk, and the likely change has raised questions among current and former officials about stability inside the Treasury Department, Bloomberg reports.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters reports that the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to name Randall Guynn, a former partner at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell who has represented the largest U.S. banks, as its new director of supervision and regulation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Wall Street attorneys who have gone into government regulatory roles have typically recused themselves from dealing with firms they recently represented, Reuters notes.

 

Reuters

Google is being investigated by the European Commission over concerns it is illegally rigging the cost of advertising on its search engine. The tech giant is suspected of "artificially increasing the clearing price" of ad auctions "to the detriment of advertisers," which could violate competition rules. “Google Search ads help small businesses compete with the biggest brands, driving economic growth and keeping the web free for everyone,” Google said in an emailed statement. “Ad prices are determined by a real-time auction designed to show people the most relevant ads, taking into account factors like advertiser competition and ad quality.”

 

Bloomberg

Exxon Mobil has said EU methane rules for oil and gas imports could increase crude import costs by about 13%, arguing most current supplies won’t meet the bloc’s 2027 criteria. Exxon Mobil's Matt Crocker said switching to compliant crude could add about $9 per barrel on average and warned Europe risks “anti-competitive” policy that industry “won’t be able to meet.”

 

Bloomberg

Israeli authorities have filed charges against two people who are accused of using classified information to bet on military operations on the Polymarket gambling site. Polymarket is a so-called prediction market that allows people to place bets to forecast the direction of events. Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, said the two people, an army reservist and a civilian, used information they had come across during their military service to inform their bets. Several U.S. lawyers specializing in prediction markets said the arrests marked the first time that they were aware of anyone being arrested for insider trading on such a platform, the Wall Street Journal reports.

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Wall Street Journal

A federal judge in Texas has blocked a rule that expanded the amount of information companies must provide when seeking a merger review. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle said the rule exceeded the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Kernodle, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said the FTC had not demonstrated the benefits of the rule would outweigh its costs. "Though the FTC asserts that the rule will detect illegal mergers and save agency resources, the FTC fails to substantiate these assertions," he wrote.

 

Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the BBC has been scheduled to go to trial in February 2027, according to court documents. The trial date comes after U.S. District Judge Roy Altman denied the British broadcaster's application to stay the merits-based discovery phase, when both sides can obtain evidence from other parties in the lawsuit, the documents showed. Trump is suing the BBC for defamation over the way an episode of the corporation's Panorama program edited two sections of a speech together. The edit made it appear that he had directly encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on 6 January 2021.

 

Reuters

BBC News

Louis Vuitton's Dutch branch has agreed to pay €500,000 ($594,000) in an out-of-court settlement related to a money laundering investigation. Prosecutors said the company failed to comply with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act. The woman at the center of the case allegedly used various names to spend over €2m in criminal proceeds on luxury goods.

 

DutchNews.nl

New York Times

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has said political interference that weakens the U.S. Federal Reserve’s independence could ripple globally, raising inflation risks and emboldening politicians elsewhere. His comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly pressured the Fed to cut rates and has named former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank from May. Nagel warned that if such pressure “succeeds,” it could become a “blueprint” for other countries. He added that interconnected economies mean pressure abroad could complicate the eurosystem’s price-stability mission.

 

Reuters

BYD and Geely are among the finalists to acquire a Nissan-Mercedes-Benz plant in Mexico, as Chinese automakers seek to establish a manufacturing presence amid U.S. tariffs impacting the local auto industry. The interest from these companies marks a significant shift in Mexico's automotive landscape, traditionally dominated by U.S., European, and Japanese firms. Mexican officials are cautious, fearing that increased Chinese production could complicate ongoing trade negotiations with the U.S.

 

Electrek

Detroit Local News

Automotive World

South China Morning Post

Stellantis is looking to exit its U.S. battery joint venture with South Korea's Samsung as the automaker scales back its electric vehicle ambitions. Antonio Filosa, Stellantis chief executive officer, is working to stem losses on EV and battery projects, and the company's electric pullback means it will need fewer battery factories in the US and Europe than initially expected, Bloomberg reports.

 

Bloomberg

OpenAI has told U.S. lawmakers that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is trying to replicate leading U.S. AI models and use them for its own training, according to a memo seen by Reuters. OpenAI said DeepSeek is using “distillation” and alleged attempts to bypass access controls, including “obfuscated third-party routers” that hide request origins. The memo claimed DeepSeek staff wrote code to programmatically obtain outputs for distillation. OpenAI also argued some Chinese models are “actively cutting corners” on safe training and said it removes users suspected of distillation.

 

Reuters

Kent Walker, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at Google, tells the Financial Times that Europe risks undermining its own competitiveness drive by restricting access to foreign technology.

 

Financial Times