The OCC announced yesterday that it’s bringing enforcement actions against five former Wells Fargo bank executives as part of their alleged roles in the bank’s sales practices scandal. The agency further revealed that it’s already settled with three additional execs, including former CEO John Stumpf, who will pay $17.5 million and lose access to the industry for his role in the wrongdoing – Law360 and NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
As the coronavirus spreads throughout a holiday season in China and rattles markets here in the U.S. (and the entire global economy), Chinese authorities have “drastically expanded a travel lockdown” in the central portion of the country, “essentially penning in 20 million residents to contain a deadly virus that is overwhelming hospitals and fueling fears of a pandemic” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs made news from Davos this week with DJ D Sol announcing that his bank—the “biggest underwriter of initial public offerings in the U.S.”—will refuse to work with businesses on their IPOs if their boards lack “a director who is either female or diverse” – Bloomberg and Marketplace and Law360 and NYTimes
In meetings this week, the European Central Bank is chewing over the potential impact of climate change and the likelihood it will be a major factor in the next financial crisis. It’s far from the only central bank grappling with the disruptive effect of a rapidly changing global climate and the cataclysmic weather events that come with it – NYTimes
The ECB also indicated that it’s open to leaving controversial negative interest rates in place “despite growing misgivings with the unconventional policy tool” in an effort to address fallout from trade tensions that “continue to drag on the export-focused eurozone economy” – WSJ [and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Marketplace]
FICO-score creator Fair Isaac Corp. is in the midst of a massive change to its credit scoring system that will penalize consumers “with rising debt levels and those who fall behind on loan payments more harshly,” a move that’s likely to “create a bigger gap between consumers deemed to be good and bad credit risks.” The move, a distinct reversal from efforts in recent years to boost FICO scores, could affect millions – WSJ
Broadcom has reached a series of new deals with Apple that will see its RF chips and other components included in new Apple products—a partnership that could lead to $15 billion in revenue for the US chip maker – MarketWatch
Massachusetts federal judge Allison Burroughs has sentenced Insys Therapeutics founder John Kapoor to more than 5 years in prison “for his role in a racketeering scheme that bribed doctors to prescribe a highly addictive opioid and misled insurers” – NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Law360
The New Yorker throws it back to 2014 for this great piece on the relationship between perambulating and some good old-fashioned deep thought – NewYorker
Have a great weekend.