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Verizon has said software flaws rather than stolen passwords have become the dominant entry point for hackers. In a review of more than 31,000 incidents in its annual Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon found 31% started with vulnerability exploitation. The report said attackers are using AI to spot and exploit known vulnerabilities at machine speed, with the technology accelerating attacks from months to hours. Hackers are “demonstrably using GenAI to help at different stages of attack including targeting, initial access, and development of malware and other tools . . . AI’s primary impact is currently operational: automating and scaling techniques defenders already know how to detect, not yet unlocking these novel or rare attack surfaces.” Meanwhile, employees are not waiting for IT approval before adopting AI tools. Unapproved AI usage at work tripled from 15% to 45% of the workforce, making “shadow AI” the third most common source of non-malicious data leakage.

 

BankInfoSecurity

InfoSecurity Magazine

Techzine Global

President Donald Trump has postponed plans to sign an executive order on artificial intelligence because he said he was worried the measure could weaken America’s edge on AI technology.  “I didn’t like certain aspects of it,” Trump said of the order. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead.” AI was also “bringing in a lot of jobs”, Trump said. The order would have established a framework for the government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems before their public release, according to a person familiar with White House deliberations. It was not immediately clear when the signing might be rescheduled.

 

AP News

Financial Times

Politico

JPMorgan is seeking to offload risk tied to more than $4bn in loans to private equity funds as it looks to cut exposure to an industry grappling with a prolonged slowdown.

 

Financial Times

McDonald’s has said it no longer expects to meet its 2030 target for reducing emissions across its supply chain and franchised restaurants, citing rising global energy demand, slow clean energy deployment and ongoing supply chain disruption. The fast-food group said growth in energy demand was outpacing the rollout of renewable energy in many regions, while geopolitical instability continued to strain global supply chains. In response, McDonald’s plans to invest $1bn over the next decade in supply chain initiatives, including regenerative agriculture projects, while prioritizing efforts to maintain affordable food prices and stable supply. The company said it still aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and remains on track to exceed its 2030 Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions targets, which relate more directly to its own operations.

 

Chicago Tribune

President Trump has signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers, as his administration pushes to clamp down on people living in the country illegally. The order directs the Treasury secretary to issue ​an advisory to banks to identify red flags tied to payroll tax evasion, concealment of true account ownership, off-the-books wage payments, labor trafficking and the use of individual taxpayer identification numbers to open accounts or obtain credit without verified legal presence in the U.S. The latest order, however, falls short of calling for citizenship data. 

 

Time Magazine

Reuters

Lorna Hajdini, the female JPMorgan Chase executive who was accused of sexually harassing a male colleague, has filed a counterclaim against her accuser, denying the allegations. Hajdini filed a defamation lawsuit against Chirayu Rana in the New York state Supreme Court on Tuesday. Hajdini ⁠has "been mocked, ridiculed, and harassed around the clock," becoming the focus of jokes and memes of a "vile, ​degrading, and sexual nature - all a direct consequence of plaintiff’s lies," according to the countersuit. "Plaintiff’s false, malicious, and bad ​faith statements have wreaked havoc on Ms. Hajdini’s life," it added. Hajdini is seeking unspecified damages from Rana for defamation, emotional distress and other claims. A JPMorgan spokesman said: “We fully support Lorna and her right to defend herself and protect her reputation. As we have said from the outset, we don’t believe the allegations against her or the firm have merit.”

 

New York Post

Financial Times

Reuters

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued to block Minnesota from enforcing a first-in-nation law to outright ban prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The regulator argued the law ​violated the U.S. Constitution by criminalizing at the state level the operation of derivatives markets governed by federal law. "This Minnesota law turns ‌lawful operators ⁠and participants in prediction markets into felons overnight," CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said. "Prediction markets are designed to be addictive and prey especially on ​young people and low-income folks," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, ​said. "They help the ultra-rich ⁠get richer and the rest of us get poorer."

 

The Hill

New York Times

Reuters

A new Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) report found that large, sophisticated uninsured depositors were the primary drivers of the rapid bank runs that led to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank in 2023. The study showed that the banks relied heavily on concentrated uninsured business deposits, making them vulnerable to fast-moving digital withdrawals conducted largely through wire transfers. Between March 7 and March 17, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank each lost more than half of their deposits, while First Republic would have lost nearly 54% without a $30bn industry-backed cash infusion. The FDIC found that the largest depositors were significantly more likely to withdraw funds, even after accounting for deposit insurance coverage and account types.

 

Financial Regulation News

American Banker

Regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore have sought clarity from Standard Chartered after CEO Bill Winters said ​the company plans to replace "lower-value human capital" with ‌technology. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) asked the lender to explain Winters' comments, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore discussed the topic with the bank. Winters' remarks were made when referring to the role of AI in the bank's plans to cut thousands of jobs. The HKMA asked the bank if the comments meant the lender was seeking to use AI as a pretext to cut staff, according to a source. “It’s common practice to have regular dialogue with our regulators on wide-ranging topics, including on strategy and growth plans,” Standard Chartered said. “Talent is core to our strategy as we continue to invest to create new, reskill and redeploy roles – this will be done in line with regulatory expectations.”

 

Bloomberg

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon ​has told Bloomberg News that the bank will likely hire more artificial intelligence specialists and fewer traditional bankers. "There will be all different types of jobs, and I think we will be hiring more ​AI people and fewer bankers in certain categories, ​and it will make them more productive," ⁠Dimon said at ​the bank's China Summit in Shanghai, adding: "I think it will ​reduce our jobs down the road." JPMorgan's annual attrition rate of about 10%, or roughly 25,000 to 30,000 employees, ​means it can manage these changes gradually, ​Dimon said. He observed that the bank could retrain staff, redeploy ‌workers ⁠or offer early retirement instead of widespread layoffs. Meanwhile, Paul Uren, JPMorgan's ​Asia Pacific head of investment banking, has told Reuters that the bank is implementing AI tools ​across its investment banking business globally. "We are in the early phase adopting AI tools throughout our investment banking business globally but are excited by the developments," Uren said.

 

Bloomberg

The threat posed to workers by artificial intelligence is giving employers more leverage, and CEOs are increasingly demanding results and holding people accountable for them. The focus now is on building a “performance culture” - a phrase used 633 times on earnings calls and in corporate documents, up from about 460, across companies in the S&P 500 Index last year - where expectations of workers soar, underperformers risk getting managed out and executives are less forgiving of bureaucratic impediments to efficiency. Ben Bryant, a professor of leadership and organization at Switzerland’s IMD Business School, wonders: “What will be sacrificed in the interests of performance?” Bloomberg observes that employee mental health, which business leaders prioritized during the pandemic, could once again get short shrift. 

 

Bloomberg

Google has agreed to negotiate with staff at its AI research lab, DeepMind, following its rejection of a request for union recognition. Formal discussions will involve the state-backed Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), delaying a potential statutory process that could force recognition. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) ⁠and Unite said earlier this month that they had sent a formal letter ​to Google seeking voluntary recognition after an employee-organized vote showed support for unionization at the AI unit. "We've declined the ​unions' request for voluntary recognition to bargain collectively on pay, hours and holiday, but ​we have offered to meet via ACAS, which is a standard next step," a Google DeepMind spokesperson ‌said. "We continue to value the constructive and direct dialogue that we have with our employees about building a positive and successful workplace." Reuters notes that the U.K.'s new employment rights legislation, which came into force last month, has simplified the union recognition process, lowering some ​of the thresholds and ​procedural hurdles for unions.

 

Reuters

The Guardian