Good morning. Eleven of the world’s largest banks and brokerages—including Bank of America Corp., Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.—will collectively pay $1.8 billion in fines to resolve regulatory investigations over their employees’ use of messaging applications that broke record-keeping rules, regulators said Tuesday.

The fines underscore the market regulators’ stern approach to civil enforcement. Fines of $200 million, which many of the banks will pay under the agreements, have typically been seen only in fraud cases or investigations that alleged harm to investors.

But the SEC, in particular, has during the Biden administration pushed for fines that are higher than precedents, saying it wants to levy fines that punish wrongdoing and effectively deter future potential harm.

Sign up for the next WSJ Risk & Compliance Forum on Nov. 16 for discussions on the critical issues facing corporate risk & compliance professionals, including keeping up with sanctions, screening for forced labor, and proposed U.S. rules on climate change and cybersecurity. Register here.

The U.S. and European Union are poised to adopt new sanctions on Russia, though some EU members are questioning existing restrictions and the economic pain in Europe is growing.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, is likely to propose new import and export controls on Russia as soon as Wednesday, according to officials involved in the talks, including an import ban on some Russian diamonds. It will also propose placing additional Russian officials and pro-Kremlin separatists on its sanctions list in the coming days, in a modest new package of measures to increase pressure on the Kremlin.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, is preparing its own new series of sanctions, looking to tighten the financial cordon around Russia’s economy. Potential targets include government-linked Russian financial institutions critical to the country’s economy, according to U.S. officials.

The securities regulator alleged that between 2016 and 2019, the business software company’s subsidiaries in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and India created so-called slush funds to bribe foreign officials and win business.

The organizer of a popular Hong Kong wine contest breached U.K. sanctions when it dealt with a Crimean winery that entered its competition, a U.K. authority said, emphasizing that not only banks need to pay attention to sanctions risks.

The Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition Ltd., which is registered as a U.K. company, must pay a penalty of £30,000, equivalent to about $32,100, the U.K. Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said Tuesday.

“Financial sanctions apply to all sectors, not just the financial sector, and it is not sufficient for any company to rely on the banking sector to conduct due diligence on their behalf,” OFSI said in a statement outlining its findings.

• Lawyers for Elon Musk and Twitter Inc. debated several pending requests for information in their continuing legal fight, with less than three weeks to go before a scheduled trial over Mr. Musk’s soured $44 billion takeover.
   
• A federal antitrust trial that could determine the fate of a partnership between American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. opened Tuesday with Justice Department lawyers and the airlines trading arguments over whether the alliance would lead to higher fares.
   
• Efforts to craft a bill banning stock trading by members of Congress, judges and senior government officials have hit snags as Democrats struggle to gather enough votes to pass legislation through the House before the midterm elections.

European authorities are investigating mysterious leaks on two currently closed Russian natural-gas pipelines to Germany, sparking concerns about the safety of critical energy infrastructure.

The leaks were detected after pressure in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which connect Russia’s prolific gas fields to Germany’s industrial heartland, dropped suddenly Monday.

It is currently unclear what has caused the leaks, authorities said, but the incident raised fears about a possible sabotage operation and prompted questions about the security of Europe’s energy infrastructure.

Russia is set to formally annex occupied territories in Ukraine after staging referendums that involved coercion, threats and, in some places, soldiers going door to door and forcing people to vote at gunpoint.

Kyiv and Western governments have described the votes as a sham designed to confer a veneer of legitimacy to Moscow’s seizure of Ukrainian land seven months on from its invasion. They could also enable Moscow to claim that any effort by Ukrainian forces to recapture the territories, in the south and east of the country, amounts to an attack on Russia itself.

• Ukraine Offensive Threatens Moscow’s Control of Land

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said the U.S. central bank needs to tighten monetary policy until underlying inflation is declining, and then wait to see whether it has done enough.

• Consumer Moods Improved in September as Gasoline Prices Fell
• 10-Year Treasury Yield Hits 4%
• China’s Offshore Currency Hits Record Low Against Dollar

Hurricane Ian strengthened to a dangerous Category 4 storm as it barreled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast ahead of expected landfall later Wednesday. 

Tuesday forecasts suggest the highest storm surge could be up to 12 feet in the roughly 90-mile stretch just south of Tampa Bay, between Longboat Key down to Bonita Beach, according to the National Hurricane Center. For Tampa Bay, the latest forecast puts the surge potential at 4 feet to 7 feet.

More marketers are taking notice of California’s data privacy laws after the state said last month that cosmetics retailer Sephora had agreed to pay $1.2 million in penalties for alleged violations related to its targeted advertising practices.

Many companies affected by the California Consumer Privacy Act didn’t take significant steps to ensure compliance. But some experts said these companies may be in for a rude awakening after Jan. 1. That is when the California Privacy Rights Act, expanding and amending CCPA, takes effect and the 30-day cure period previously granted to businesses accused of violating the law disappears.

• Meta Platforms Inc. said Tuesday that it has removed separate networks in China and Russia that were running covert influence campaigns related to U.S. politics and the war in Ukraine.

Alex Mashinsky, chief executive and co-founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network LLC, is stepping down, following a resignation request from its creditors.

A committee of creditors formed since Celsius filed for bankruptcy to represent customers demanded that Mr. Mashinsky step down, said Greg Pesce, the lawyer representing the panel, in a court filing on Tuesday. Following a company investigation, the committee said that it would be “unacceptable” for Mr. Mashinsky to remain in his position, according to the filing.

• Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX won an auction for the assets of Voyager Digital Ltd. with a purchase price of around $50 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

General Motors Co. is backpedaling on aspects of its return-to-office plans amid criticism from employees, the latest example of companies straining to navigate their pandemic-era work policies.

An employee memo sent Friday from Chief Executive Mary Barra and her leadership team outlined plans to have salaried employees return to the office three days a week, a policy set to take effect later this year. Many employees viewed the change as a departure from plans the company implemented last year, which emphasized flexibility and didn’t require in-office days, people familiar with the matter said.

The return to in-office days now won’t be required before the first quarter of next year, the Tuesday email said. The email also clarified that the company won’t mandate which days of the week employees will be expected to be present. The policy is expected to stick to the three-days-in-office requirement, said a GM spokeswoman, who confirmed the Tuesday memo.