Category: banks

Russian Hackers Accessed 632,000 Emails From Pentagon, Other Agencies: Report

Hackers have accessed approximately 632,000 emails from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies this year, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed. The report detailed a large-scale cyberattack in May 2023 in which emails from US government offices, private sectors, airlines, and academic entities were accessed by a suspected Russian group called “CL0P.” Alongside electronic personal data, the actors breached internal tracking codes and government employee survey links issued by agencies. Through File Transfer Software The cybercriminals…

Bond markets are being hit hard — and it’s likely to impact you

There is a sharp sell-off in the bond market, and it has big implications on both the economy and people’s pocketbooks. Yields on U.S. government bonds, especially the 10-year Treasury note, determine the interest rates that people pay on a lot of their debt, including mortgages and credit cards. And a key bond yield hasn’t been this high since 2007. Several factors are driving the sell-off, including stronger-than-expected economic data and the government’s worsening finances. Here is what you need…

Hollywood and Netflix Flag ‘Priority’ Piracy Threats

Over the past two decades, online piracy has proven a massive challenge for the entertainment industries. It’s a global issue that’s hard to contain, but various anti-piracy group are doing their best to fight back. There’s a seemingly perpetual stream of takedowns, as evidenced by press releases that come out every week. However, some targets are particularly resistant to enforcement action and much harder to take offline. A few days ago, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) submitted an overview of…

Microsoft: State hackers exploiting Confluence zero-day since September

  Microsoft says a Chinese-backed threat group tracked as ‘Storm-0062’ (aka DarkShadow or Oro0lxy) has been exploiting a critical privilege escalation zero-day in the Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server since September 14, 2023. Atlassian had already notified customers about the active exploitation status of CVE-2023-22515 when it disclosed it on October 4, 2023. Still, the company withheld specific details on the threat groups leveraging the vulnerability in the wild. Today, Microsoft Threat Intelligence analysts shared more information about Storm-0062’s involvement in…

Amazon sellers say they made a good living — until Amazon figured it out

Suavecito was the first product that Douglas Mrdeza listed to sell on Amazon back in 2014. He had ordered a bit too much of the specialty hair pomade for his barbershop in East Lansing, Michigan. He wanted to see whether he could offload some online. It sold out. So, he ordered more. This time he paid Amazon some extra money to use its warehouse storage and shipping service. “I did the calculation, bought what would have sold in a month…

Israeli central bank to sell $41b of foreign currency to stabilise shekel amid Gaza war

JERUSALEM – The Bank of Israel said on Monday it will sell up to US$30 billion (S$41 billion) of foreign currency in the open market, in the central bank’s first ever sale of foreign exchange, to maintain stability during Israel’s war with Palestinian militants in Gaza. The move appeared to quickly calm the market as the shekel recovered from steep early losses. “The bank will operate in the market during the coming period in order to moderate volatility in the…

FCA sets out initial findings on bank account access and closures

The information supplied by banks, building societies and payment companies suggests that no firm closed an account between July 2022 and June 2023 primarily because of a customer’s political views. The Payment Accounts Regulations ban banks or building societies discriminating on this basis. The FCA will be doing further work with firms to verify the data and to better understand the reasons behind, for example, the closure of accounts due to reputational risk. By far the most common reasons providers…

Canada’s Sikhs Grateful, and Afraid, After Trudeau’s India Allegations

OTTAWA — Canadian Sikhs are grateful to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for giving voice to their fears and standing up to India at the risk of a severe backlash from New Delhi, which he said could be linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader. The Indian government considered Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot to death in June in British Columbia, a terrorist because of his advocacy for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state. India forcefully…

UBS, Credit Suisse face growing probe over alleged Russian sanctions evasion

The US Department of Justice has stepped up its probe into Credit Suisse Group and UBS Group over suspected compliance failures that allowed Russian clients to evade sanctions, according to people familiar with the situation. What began as a series of subpoenas sent to a range of banks early this year has developed into a full-scale investigation focusing on Credit Suisse, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about an ongoing inquiry. The DOJ has briefed US-based lawyers for…

Zelenskyy returns to Washington as GOP dissent grows to funding war

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to Washington on Thursday for a whirlwind one-day visit, this time to face the Republicans now questioning the flow of American dollars that for 19 months has kept his troops in the fight against Russian forces. Zelenskyy arrived at the Capitol to talk privately with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate as the world is watching Western support for Kyiv. He will also meet with President Joe Biden…

Florida: West Point sued over using race as an admissions factor

West Point was accused in a federal lawsuit Tuesday of improperly using race and ethnicity as factors in admissions by the same group behind the legal challenge that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions. Students for Fair Admissions claims the U.S. Military Academy sets benchmarks for how many Black, Hispanic and Asian cadets there should be in each class. The lawsuit filed in New York’s Southern District claims West Point is violating the Fifth Amendment…

Is US Heading for New Crisis 15 Years After the 2008 Credit Crunch?

The US could be heading for economic turmoil again 15 years after the 2008 financial crisis rocked the country, three experts have said. Global finance giant Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, more than 150 years after its founding. It was the first major US victim of the sub-prime mortgage collapse. The first warning of the Credit Crunch came a year earlier, with the run small regional British mortgage lender Northern Rock after it asked the Bank…

Are banks cashing in at the expense of competition?

The trend of banks increasing their net interest margins and channeling their efforts into loan refinancing has raised concerns that it will reduce competition in the lending market. This shift could have significant implications for borrowers and the broader economy, according to Peter James (pictured above), director of non-bank lender Mortgage Ezy. “Banks are notorious for fattening their net interest margins (NIM) on loans whenever the cash rate scales higher,” James said. “While borrowers bear the brunt of RBA rate…

A JPMorgan Court Filing Shows Another Bank Exec Visited Jeffrey Epstein’s Residences 13 Times – Two More Times than Jes Staley

  JPMorgan Chase is in a protracted legal battle in a federal district court in Manhattan over highly credible allegations that it “actively participated” in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking of minors. The lawsuit has been brought against JPMorgan Chase by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands where Epstein owned a private island compound that was a frequent venue of the sex trafficking operation. Part of the bank’s damage control strategy has been to sue one of its former top…

FCA investigates: Banks closing bank accounts based on customer political views and ideologies

Following concerns raised by the government of the United Kingdom (“UK”) about freedom of expression and the provision of banking services, the UK’s financial watch dog, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), recently commenced an investigation into bank account closures.  This action follows in the wake of recent reports of banks allegedly closing customer accounts based…… Continue Reading
The post FCA Investigates Bank Account Closures, Including for PEP Customers appeared first on Global Investigations & Compliance Review.

ASIC brings suit against Paypal Australia for alleged unfair contract term

  The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has taken legal action against Paypal Australia Pty Limited, alleging that the company’s standard form of contracts with small business owners contains an unfair term. According to ASIC, business account holders are given 60 days to notify Paypal of any errors or discrepancies in fees that Paypal has charged them, or else accept those fees as accurate. ASIC alleges such a term is considered unfair. “ASIC has commenced this action to protect…