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Silicon Valley gender trial enters final stages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Dollar signs rather than discrimination drove a former partner at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to file her gender discrimination suit, a lawyer for the firm told jurors Tuesday in the high-profile trial. “The ... More »

Kleiner run ‘like a boys club,’ Pao attorney tells jurors

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was run “like a boys club,” a lawyer for one of its former partners who is suing the firm for sex discrimination told jury members on Tuesday. During closing arguments in San Francisco Sup... More »

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Senator Warren questions SEC chair on broker reforms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Elizabeth Warren said Friday that the Labor Department should press ahead with brokerage industry reforms, and not be deterred by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plans to adopt its own separate rules.    President Barack... More »

U.S. says inaction on online piracy risks public safety

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. trade office on Thursday called for a crackdown on website name registrars who fail to take action against sellers of illegal goods such as counterfeit medicines and warned that turning a blind eye puts public safety at risk. Th... More »

U.S. banks pass Fed capital test, trading books hurt

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – All 31 U.S. banks passed a test of how they would do in a next economic crisis, the Federal Reserve said on Thursday, but those with large trading books came out weak because of new elements in the check-up. The Fed had assumed ... More »

Tougher Internet rules to hit cable, telecoms companies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. regulators are poised to impose the toughest rules yet on Internet service providers, aiming to ensure fair treatment of all web traffic through their networks. The Federal Communications Commission is expected Thursday to approve C... More »

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Swiss prosecutor searches HSBC premises, opens criminal inquiry

ZURICH (Reuters) – Geneva’s public prosecutor searched the premises of HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.L) in Geneva on Wednesday and said it had opened a criminal inquiry into allegations of aggravated money laundering. “A search is currently underway in the premises ... More »

JPMorgan tops list of risky banks: government study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co bears the highest potential hazard to the financial system if it were to fail, a staff study released by a U.S. government research agency showed, providing a first-of-its-kind numerical risk ranking of U.S. banks. Th... More »

Schwab settles NY lawsuit over auction-rate debt

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Charles Schwab Corp has agreed to settle a 2009 lawsuit in which New York’s attorney general accused the discount brokerage of fraud in the sale and marketing to investors of auction-rate securities that became illiquid. Terms were not dis... More »

U.S. whistleblower summoned to testify in UBS case in France

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former UBS AG (UBSN.S) banker who helped U.S. authorities prosecute the Swiss bank in a tax fraud case has asked for permission to travel to France to comply with a subpoena in another investigation of the company, according a court do... More »

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U.S. must target currency manipulation in trade deals: senator

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration must insist that U.S. trading partners pledge not to manipulate currencies when negotiating trade deals, the Senate Committee on Finance chairman said on Friday. In a speech laying out his conditions for supporti... More »

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Democratic lawmakers seek swaps data from JPMorgan, other banks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers on Thursday asked giant banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) to explain how they will manage swaps trading activities after lawmakers weakened rules for those operations at the end of 2014. The U.S. C... More »

Albertsons, Safeway to sell 168 stores to get merger okay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Supermarket chains Albertsons and Safeway (SWY.N) agreed to sell 168 stores in eight states to win U.S. antitrust approval for their $9.2 billion merger, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Albertsons, which has 630 supermarket... More »

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BP asks for lower fine in penalty phase of Gulf spill trial

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – BP Plc, citing low oil prices, tried to whittle away at $13.7 billion in potential fines under the Clean Water Act on Tuesday as the penalty phase started in its trial over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP said its fine should be m... More »

Canada competition watchdog seeks records from Indigo, Kobo

TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s Competition Bureau said on Tuesday it has asked for records from Indigo Books and Music Inc (IDG.TO), the country’s biggest bookstore chain, as part of a probe into alleged anti-competitive practices in the e-book market. Th... More »

UK banks warn 2019 ringfencing deadline extremely challenging

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s banks will find it “extremely challenging” to meet a 2019 deadline to set up a boundary around their retail operations and have called for the regulator to provide clarity on the new rules more quickly. “Our members do not consider... More »

JPMorgan settles currency manipulation lawsuit in U.S.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co has become the first bank to settle a U.S. antitrust lawsuit in which investors accused 12 major banks of rigging prices in the $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market. The largest U.S. bank will pay about $100 millio... More »

Madoff victims’ payout nearing $7.2 billion: trustee

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Victims of Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme will get afresh $322 million payout if a U.S. judge approves the request by the trustee liquidating the convicted fraudster’s firm, bringing the recovery total to more than $7 billion. The t... More »

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JPMorgan report to outline improved controls: activist

BOSTON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co will soon issue a report outlining improved controls it has been enacting in the wake of recent missteps, including its role in the 2008 financial crisis, according to a shareholder activist who has seen a draft. The repo... More »

BlackRock’s Fink applauds SEC plan to scrutinize industry

(Reuters) – BlackRock’s chief executive Larry Fink said he applauds the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s plans to step up scrutiny of the risks posed by large asset managers, saying it was a better step than singling out specific firms as posing syste... More »

Morgan Stanley fined $4 million over rule lapse

(Reuters) – U.S. regulators on Wednesday fined Morgan Stanley (MS.N ) $4 million for failing to enforce rules that would have prevented the unauthorized buying of Apple Inc (AAPL.O ) shares by a trader at one of the bank’s customer trading firms that led to th... More »

Homeowners, Wells Fargo head to trial over mortgage fees

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co, (WFC.N ) the largest U.S. mortgage lender, is set to go to trial on Monday as homeowners seek to recoup about $629 million for alleged overcharges by a company once owned by Wachovia Corp. Jury selection is scheduled to b... More »

HSBC’s Swiss private bank under investigation in France

PARIS (Reuters) – The Swiss private banking arm of HSBC Holdings Plc has been placed under formal investigation by French magistrates, who are looking into whether the bank helped certain clients avoid paying taxes in 2006 and 2007. In connection with the inve... More »

Banks chase trading cheats with ‘fuzzy’ surveillance

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Stung by billion-dollar fines for malpractice on their trading floors, the world’s big banks are using ‘fuzzy logic’ tools such as relationship mapping and behavioral analytics to read the minds of would-be cheats among their traders. On ... More »

Oracle, SAP settle long-running TomorrowNow lawsuit

(Reuters) – Oracle Corp and SAP SE have settled long-running copyright litigation for $356.7 million over improper downloads of Oracle files, ending a fierce legal battle between the two enterprise software rivals.     The case involved SAP’s TomorrowNow unit,... More »

Regulators fine global banks $3.4 billion in forex probe

LONDON/ZURICH (Reuters) – Global regulators imposed penalties totaling $3.4 billion on five major banks, including UBS (UBSN.VX ), HSBC (HSBA.L ) and Citigroup (C.N ) on Wednesday for failing to stop their traders from trying to manipulate foreign exchange mar... More »

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New rules may break voting stalemate over Nasdaq data processor

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A stalemate over selecting a new manager of a data processor that publishes quotes and sale prices for Nasdaq-listed stocks may be resolved because of new rules that ease voting requirements, according to a recent regulatory filing. The ne... More »

RBS sets aside $639 million to settle forex probes

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland said it had set aside 400 million pounds ($639 million) to cover potential fines for manipulating currency markets and another 100 million to compensate customers mis-sold loan insurance. RBS is one of six banks in tal... More »

SEC investigates CMS employees in insider-trading case: WSJ

(Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether employees at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) leaked information to traders, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation. A... More »

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More lawsuits filed against Honda, Takata over air bags

DETROIT (Reuters) – The recall crisis involving Takata-made air bags exploding with too much force and spraying vehicle occupants with metal shrapnel is growing, with two more lawsuits filed over accidents in older Honda cars. News of the lawsuits came a day a... More »

Tech workers ask appeals court to reject Apple, Google bid

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Employees suing Apple, Google and two other tech companies over hiring practices said an appeals court should not approve a $324.5 million settlement in the case, according to a court filing on Tuesday. Plaintiff workers accused Apple... More »

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Obama says unequivocally committed to ‘net neutrality’

SANTA MONICA Calif. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama declared himself fully committed to “net neutrality” on Thursday while U.S. regulators review controversial new regulations that would govern how Internet service providers (ISPs) manage traffic on their n... More »

Banks to change rules governing derivatives market: FT

(Reuters) – The world’s biggest banks have agreed to change rules that govern the $700 trillion derivatives market, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Eighteen banks, ranging from Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.VX ) to Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N ), have... More »

Banks need overhaul, but risk to recovery, IMF says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A much-needed pruning of banks across the world could stifle lending and dampen economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. To boost profits, banks need to raise prices in certain business lines, pull out of oth... More »

GT Advanced first bankruptcy hearing set for Thursday

(Reuters) – Apple Inc supplier GT Advanced Technologies Inc will hold its first Chapter 11 bankruptcy court hearing on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, according to a clerk in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manchester, New Hampshire. Investors are eagerly anticipating th... More »

Samsung seeks Hong Kong arbitration after Microsoft lawsuit

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd initiated an arbitration proceeding in Hong Kong against Microsoft Corp on Tuesday, amid ongoing U.S. litigation over smartphone patent royalties. The arbitration was disclosed in a court filing as part of a fede... More »

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Canadian company lays out defense case for its jailed CEO

HAVANA (Reuters) – Defense lawyers for a Canadian executive sentenced to 15 years prison in Cuba on bribery and other charges released a raft of documents on Sunday seeking to bolster their case that Cy Tokmakjian was denied a fair trial. Tokmakjian’s transpor... More »

States probe JPMorgan Chase as hack seen fueling fraud

BOSTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. states are investigating the theft of 83 million customer records from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N ) in a massive cyber attack uncovered over the summer, and more may soon join, Reuters learned on Friday. Illinois Attorney General Li... More »

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FCC pauses clock on Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it paused its “shot-clock” on the review of the proposed $45 billion merger between the two largest U.S. cable providers, Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc. The FCC, which wi... More »