Amazon renews card tie-up with JPMorgan; SEC seeks crypto holdings accounting

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

* E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. ended up renewing its rewards credit card partnership with JPMorgan Chase & Co. after ending months of negotiations and considering shifting to other interested parties, including American Express Co. and Synchrony Financial, CNBC reported, citing people with knowledge of the talks. Amazon asked for some interchange fee rebates from the issuers, among other things, the sources reportedly told the news outlet.

* The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission urged banks and other financial institutions aside from cryptocurrency firms to also account for crypto assets they are holding on behalf of customers on their balance sheets for greater transparency, Bloomberg News reported, citing an SEC official on a media call. The SEC on March 31 issued a Staff Accounting Bulletin clarifying how companies should apply existing accounting rules in reporting such obligations and the corresponding asset figures. The guidance applies to quarters or fiscal years that end in June, according to the report.

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READ MORE about the market reaction and industry impact of the evolving situation in Russia and Ukraine in our new Issue in Focus.

BANKING

* London's Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that the foreign exchange rigging case against major banks including JPMorgan and Citigroup Inc. was not suitable to proceed as a U.S.-style, opt-out class action, Reuters reported. The London court has been considering the case since July 2021.

* Acting as paying agent for Russia's debt due in 2030, JPMorgan on March 31 processed a payment of nearly $447 million, helping the country evade default, Bloomberg News reported, citing an anonymous source.

* JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon as of March 25 collected approximately $56 million worth of 398,708 shares of JPMorgan stock, before taxes, as a performance incentive from the company, a recent company filing with the SEC showed.

* Barclays PLC raised its minimum hourly pay for its more than 900 U.S. staff, beginning March, the company said in a news release. The new rate, which varies by location based on cost-of-living indexes, will increase to at least $20.50 per hour, up from $17.00 per hour.

* The National Credit Union Administration's search for feedback on its proposed rule to require proper succession plans in federal credit unions of all sizes has received concerns that it might do more harm than good for institutions with smaller economies of scale, American Banker reported.

* Democrats and Republicans in Congress clashed in a March 30 hearing, with Democrats batting for the government's cutting of overdraft fees, which they said weigh on poor consumers of color, while Republicans argued that overdraft fees are a necessary source of short-term credit for consumers who may otherwise have few options, American Banker reported.

* Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu warned banks to guard against so-called tail risks that could simultaneously happen in the wake of the Russian-Ukraine war. Speaking at a March 31 conference hosted by the American Bankers Association, Hsu said an expanded conflict could have significant effects on regional economies and financial markets.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

* The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has gotten stricter with employees on the company's return-to-office order in recent weeks by electronically monitoring ID swipes, Business Insider reported, citing sources. Those who fail to comply with the rules risk getting marked absent and penalized, according to the report.

* BlackRock Inc. cut fees on several of its exchange-traded funds amid an escalating fee war in the industry, Bloomberg reported, citing regulatory filings. BlackRock reduced its expense ratio on its $85 billion iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, the biggest in the industry, to 0.03% from 0.04%, according to the report.

* The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is offering its clients to swap their holdings of overseas shares in Russia's biggest companies for local listings, the Financial Times reported, citing a notice to the custodian bank's clients. The exchange scheme comes after a report that Russia is considering delisting depositary receipts in major companies and converting these to securities that would trade in Moscow, according to the report.

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