Good morning. Artificial intelligence should have a greater role in banking, including as a way to cut compliance costs and other expenses, top U.S. banking officials said.

• The push: The heads of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Wednesday both called for more AI in banking in remarks at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington, D.C.
   
• The argument: AI can identify suspicious activity with speed and precision that more traditional automated screening systems can’t match, FDIC Chairman Travis Hill said. “These tools can elevate real risk signals and reduce false positives, allowing investigators to focus on what truly matters,” Hill told an audience of bankers.
   
• The context: Under the Trump administration, banking regulators have focused on easing regulatory requirements, particularly for smaller banks, and trying to make it easier to establish new institutions.

New DOJ enforcement policy eyes voluntary disclosures for misconduct.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a new Corporate Enforcement Policy for criminal matters on Tuesday, promising to decline prosecution of companies that voluntarily disclose misconduct, cooperate with investigations and remediate wrongdoing, Risk Journal reports. It warned that firms that don’t do so will face action.

“The Division’s own corporate enforcement policy traces its roots to 2016. Since that time, based on our experience prosecuting the most sophisticated white-collar schemes, we refined our approach, culminating in the revisions announced in May 2025,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. 

FinCEN expands border anti-money laundering order to New Mexico, Arizona counties.

The U.S. Treasury Department has expanded an order aimed at combating cartel-related money laundering along the border with Mexico, extending stricter reporting requirements to counties in New Mexico and additional counties in Arizona, Risk Journal reports.

The geographic targeting order issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network on Monday requires money services businesses in Bernalillo, Doña Ana and San Juan Counties in New Mexico and in Maricopa and Pima Counties in Arizona to report cash transactions larger than $1,000, compared with the $10,000 threshold used under federal anti-money-laundering rules.

• CVS Health’s Aetna unit agreed to pay $117.7 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.
   
• The U.S. Justice Department and Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank reached a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a nearly decadelong criminal case alleging the bank helped Iran launder billions of dollars in oil revenue and evade American sanctions.
   
• Former hedge-fund executive Crispin Odey is challenging a March 2025 decision by the U.K.’s financial watchdog to ban him from the U.K.’s financial services industry and fine him £1.8 million, equivalent to $2.4 million.
   
• The Trump administration announced new tariff investigations targeting excess industrial capacity and forced-labor regulations that could result in higher levies on scores of nations.
   
• The Justice Department’s surprise reversal last week on defending the White House’s sanctions against law firms came after an angry outburst by President Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• Revolut said it would formally begin banking the U.K. after a regulator lifted restrictions on its license, paving the way for the financial-technology company to compete more aggressively with traditional lenders.

G-7 won’t ease sanctions against Russia despite Iran war, says Macron.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the Group of Seven countries agreed on Wednesday that the war in Iran didn’t warrant removing sanctions against Russia and that the group remained committed to supporting Ukraine.

“This situation should obviously not diminish our focus on Ukraine, on supporting Ukraine, and on the clarity we have in terms of sanctions against Russia,” Macron told reporters following a meeting with G-7 leaders.

Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said returning to Russian fossil fuels in the wake of the Iran war would be a “strategic blunder,” as Europe continues to grapple with volatile oil prices.

IEA will launch largest-ever oil release from global strategic reserves.

The International Energy Agency said its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency stocks, the largest reserves distribution in history, in a bid to bring down crude prices that have soared during the war with Iran.

The release of oil would more than double the agency’s biggest prior release, when IEA member countries in 2022 put 182 million barrels on the market after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officials said.

But the move did little to interrupt a Wednesday rally. Futures for Brent crude, the global benchmark, traded 4.8% higher to $91.98 a barrel—and up from before the International Energy Agency announcement. Concerns over disruption to energy flows in the Middle East flared up anew, with U.S. officials saying Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.K. saying three cargo ships were hit by projectiles near the key waterway.

• Middle East War Is Causing Largest Oil Supply Disruption in History, IEA Says
• OPEC Holds Oil-Demand Forecast Steady While Gulf Disruption Chokes Flows

• Escalating Iranian attacks and the U.S. government’s decision to hold off on military escorts for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz are raising the prospect of a prolonged closure that would choke off exports through the world’s most important energy-transport route.
   
• President Trump’s plan to sell insurance for ships in the Gulf, a way of easing the war-induced crunch in oil supplies, is proving easier said than done.

• Activist investor Starboard Value has urged CarMax’s incoming chief executive officer, Keith Barr, to usher in changes and slash costs to revive the used-car retailer.
   
• A tax-cut competition is raging inside the Democratic Party.
   
• A shopper boycott against Target that has dented sales could be cooling. A group of activists who last year encouraged shoppers to boycott Target after it backed away from some of its diversity, equity and inclusion policies said that Target has privately acknowledged a breakdown in trust with the Black community and that its official work on the boycott will end.

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