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The Morning Risk Report: Banks Ordered to Dig Through Account Closures to Find ‘Debanking’ Cases
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By David Smagalla | Dow Jones Risk Journal
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Good morning. Banks are racing to respond to regulators’ broad requests for information on whether they closed customer accounts or denied people service on political or religious grounds.
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The origins: The sweeping demands are part of President Trump’s crackdown on alleged discrimination by banks, a practice dubbed debanking, which he has said targeted conservatives. Regulators are working with the Justice Department, which is looking for any violations of civil-rights laws including the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, according to people familiar with the matter.
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What’s next? The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is expected to send out letters to large banks as soon as this week, asking for information that could go back a number of years, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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OCC responds: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also said it recently sent out requests to the nine largest banks it regulates, vowing to “end the weaponization of the financial system.” The request is for information going back several years, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Background: The requests follow Trump’s executive order in early August “guaranteeing fair banking for all Americans,” which directed regulators to look into potential discrimination by banks and to take disciplinary action including fines against those found to have done so.
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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From Lean to Resilient: Redefining Supply Chain Strategy
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Outpace disruption in global supply networks with improved visibility, proactive technology investments, and pairing physical and digital decision-making. Read More
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Above, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing on Sept. 23 as China and the U.S. hold trade negotiations. Photo: POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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China ramps up trade enforcement.
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced four trade-related moves Thursday, Katherine Peavy reports for Risk Journal, with Mofcom adding six U.S. companies to its trade control lists and launching antidumping investigations of U.S. and Mexican products.
Context: The moves come as China and the U.S. maneuver for better positions in trade negotiations while trying to balance a desire for China’s President Xi and President Trump to meet.
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EU leaders say carbon fees on imports help the rest of the world.
A carbon tariff on imports could help the rest of the world lower emissions, European Union representatives told delegates at New York Climate Week.
Claire Hudson reports for Risk Journal that the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or CBAM, has caused a stir across the globe: it would impose an import fee on greenhouse gas emissions released during manufacturing.
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A former McKinsey & Co. partner who pleaded guilty to bribing South African utility and logistics officials was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, Risk Journal reports.
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Federal regulators are scaling back obstacles for Boeing to deliver some of its newly produced aircraft to customers, a hopeful sign for the plane maker’s recovery from a string of crises.
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Regulators have fined and suspended a former Morgan Stanley broker for allegedly executing hundreds of improper transfers from his personal bank account to his brokerage account.
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Former financier Howard Rubin was charged Friday with trafficking dozens of women whom federal prosecutors said he sexually and physically assaulted during encounters in a Central Park penthouse with a sex dungeon.
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70%
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Percentage of H-1B skilled-worker visa recipients who are Indian nationals. The program has historically been a major pathway for foreign professionals to enter the U.S., and President Trump wants to reform the program.
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Many of the largest pharmaceutical companies have announced new construction in the U.S. in recent months. Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg News
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Trump to impose new tariffs on pharma, big trucks.
President Trump announced many new tariffs Thursday, including a large one on drugs from pharmaceutical companies that aren’t building plants in the U.S.
“Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America,” Trump posted on his social-media site, Truth Social, without providing details.
Other tariffs Trump announced Thursday include levies on large trucks and home goods. All of them will begin Oct. 1, he said.
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Inside the crisis at Tylenol.
The chief executive of the company that makes Tylenol got a text message earlier this month that contained nothing but a single link to a Substack post. In the post, a promoter of Covid-19 misinformation was connecting autism with acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. The text was from the nation’s top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
At that moment, it was clear to CEO Kirk Perry that his efforts to convince Kennedy that there was no science behind such claims had failed.
That claim has sent the medical establishment into panic mode. And it’s thrown Kenvue, the company that makes Tylenol, into crisis—just 70 days into Perry’s tenure as CEO.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday delivered a defiant response to Western nations that are preparing to reimpose international sanctions on Tehran for failing to uphold the 2015 nuclear deal.
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President Trump said he would block Israel from annexing the West Bank, issuing a new ultimatum to head off a move that other Western and Middle Eastern powers warned could further inflame regional tensions and jeopardize Israel’s normalized ties with some Arab nations.
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Bot networks are now a brand problem, too.
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President Trump has remade Washington’s role in Latin America with a force not seen in decades, deploying U.S. military and economic weight with abandon and treating the region as an exclusive sphere of influence.
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The phone of Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger was buzzing. The message was clear: You made a mistake.
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Walmart executives aren’t sugarcoating the message: Artificial intelligence will wipe out some jobs and reshape its workforce.
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President Trump on Friday called for Microsoft to fire Lisa Monaco, its head of global affairs, who previously worked for the Biden administration.
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Photo: Priyanshu Singh/Reuters
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Jaguar Land Rover gets government loan guarantee to support supply chain; restarts production.
Jaguar Land Rover will restart some sections of its manufacturing operations in the coming days, as it begins its recovery from a cyberattack that has crippled production for around a month.
The company, owned by India’s Tata Motors, discovered a cyberattack late last month, forcing it to shut down its computer systems and halt production. Last week, the company began a gradual restart of its operations, bringing some IT systems back online. It has informed suppliers and retail partners that sections of its digital network is back up and running, and processing capacity for invoicing has been increased as it works to quickly clear the backlog of payments to suppliers.
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Auto-parts supplier First Brands Group filed for bankruptcy Monday, threatening big losses for its lenders after the market lost confidence in its financial disclosures and its use of off-balance-sheet debt.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s trademark swagger was missing Sunday when he announced he would halt his re-election campaign, a decision that narrows the field in a hotly contested race to run the nation’s largest city.
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A shooter left four people dead and several people injured at a church about 50 miles north of Detroit on Sunday, police said.
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Oregon leaders urged President Trump not to deploy federal troops to Portland, citing economic gains and reduced crime since 2020.
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Russia has powered its war in Ukraine by keeping its oil flowing. Now, after more than 3½ years of conflict, the gusher is slowly starting to peter out.
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The Justice Department on Thursday charged James Comey with making a false statement to Congress and obstruction. Here is a closer look at the charges in the extraordinary case and what happens next.
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