Wall Street Journal
OK with crypto
“The trend is unmistakable,” said Raj Dhamodharan, the company’s executive vice president of digital asset and blockchain products and partnerships. “This is a big change that will require a lot of work. We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies, which focus on consumer protections and compliance.”
Bitcoin for pay?
“We’ve done a lot of the upfront thinking to consider how we might pay employees should they ask to be paid in bitcoin, how we might pay a vendor if they ask to be [paid] in bitcoin and whether we need to have bitcoin on our balance sheet should that happen,” Segal said in an interview on CNBC. “It’s something we continue to study and look at, we want to be thoughtful about over time, but we haven’t made any changes yet.”
“Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is a bitcoin advocate. Payment company Square Inc., which Mr. Dorsey also leads, recently acquired about $50 million worth of bitcoin for its corporate treasury.”
Too close for comfort?
Tension between former President Barack Obama’s legacy and President Biden’s agenda “is at the heart of
“Activists on the left are trying to derail [Biden’s expected] nomination of University of Michigan public policy professor Michael Barr. They are attacking Mr. Barr’s record as too friendly to financial companies when he negotiated the Dodd-Frank law while serving in Mr. Obama’s Treasury Department, and since. Mr. Barr also oversaw programs aimed at protecting struggling homeowners from foreclosure, which fell well short of their goals. Mr. Barr also riled some fellow Democrats over how to regulate big banks.”
Call for more AML guidance
“A large majority of respondents also said that feedback from [the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] on suspicious activity reports filed under anti-money-laundering rules would help shape the way such reports are filed, potentially increasing their value to law enforcement. Respondents also welcomed other modes of engagement with regulators.”
Growing suspicion
Meanwhile,
“The record number of SARs related to cash transactions below the CTR threshold highlights the impact of the Covid-19 on SARs filing. The number jumped when the U.S. and other countries restricted travel or closed borders to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus—likely making it more difficult for criminals to smuggle bulk cash across borders.”
Fintech fans
New York Times
Worldly view
“In March, she will take the chief executive reins from Michael Corbat. It is a major turnaround job. Ms. Fraser is taking the reins as Democratic lawmakers are gearing up to hit big companies hard over racial inequality, global warming and the yawning gap in pay between C.E.O.s and workers.”
“Although she didn’t delve into details about how her bank would tackle these issues, Ms. Fraser indicated that she would take a more global approach to addressing Citi’s challenges, in keeping with her background and overseas work experience. She is keen to apply lessons learned in other countries to challenges facing the U.S. For instance, Ms. Fraser sees an opportunity to introduce banking services to more people in the United States by implementing certain programs that Citi has successfully run in Mexico, India and China.”
Financial Times
Grave consequences
“Under the reprieve, lenders were allowed to temporarily exclude holdings of U.S. Treasuries and cash kept in reserve at the central bank from their assets when calculating the ratio. People familiar with the situation told the Financial Times that banks and industry representatives had been in talks with the Fed to extend the exemption beyond March. The arguments have centered on the fact that many of the unusual conditions that originally prompted the easing are still in place, including the Fed’s massive intervention in the Treasury market. Some bankers have also warned of potentially grave consequences for the market.”
Quotable
