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Verisk in deal; CFPB blasted over payday rule; Maine Harvest FCU gets charter

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Verisk in deal; CFPB blasted over payday rule; Maine Harvest FCU gets charter

Verisk Analytics Inc. is buying Genscape Inc., a global provider of real-time data and intelligence for commodity and energy markets, for $364 million in cash. Genscape will become part of Wood Mackenzie Ltd, a Verisk business, as part of the deal.

Stifel Financial Corp. agreed to acquire B&F Capital Markets Inc., a Cleveland, Ohio-based provider of interest rate swap capabilities to regional and community banks. The terms of the deal, expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed.

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D.-Calif., and 101 members of Congress wrote a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger to express concern about the CFPB's plan to remove the ability-to-pay requirements from the 2017 Payday rule and the agency's decision to delay the implementation of the rule. Waters said this "would allow predatory payday and car-title lenders to continue their abusive practices unfettered" and leave consumers without small dollar lending protections for an additional 15 months.

At the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is proposing that the U.S. dollar, the world's reserve currency, must be eventually replaced by a virtual reserve currency backed by central banks around the world. Carney argued for the need to dampen the influence of the dollar on global financial conditions, noting that such a currency, which he called a "synthetic hegemonic currency," could shield countries from negative shocks born out of spillovers.

Investment firm Avenue Capital Group LLC agreed to acquire London-based Pollen Street Capital's entire stake in Irish development and bridging finance lending platform Castlehaven Finance for more than €250 million.

Kunal Kalra of Westwood, Los Angeles agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, one of which was for running an unlicensed bitcoin exchange and ATM. Kalra had allegedly exchanged up to $25 million in cash and virtual currency for individuals, including Darknet drug dealers and other criminals. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a news release that this may be the first federal criminal case charging an unlicensed money remitting business that used a Bitcoin kiosk.

The National Credit Union Administration granted a federal charter and share insurance fund coverage to Maine Harvest FCU, which will serve the employees and about 13,000 members of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Main Farmland Trust. The credit union expects to begin operations this fall.

In other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: RBA chief warns of global political shock; India to inject cash into banks again

Europe: Credit Suisse to bolster Swiss unit; Allianz's Brazil deal; hiring freeze at AIB

Middle East & Africa: FAB denies Qatari regulator's allegations; Fitch, S&P act on Lebanon

Now featured on S&P Global Market Intelligence

US credit unions book highest deposit growth since Q4'17: Shares and deposits at U.S. credit unions booked their highest year-over-year growth rate in a year and a half during the second quarter. Shares and deposits were up 6.0% from the year-ago period, representing the highest year-over-year growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2017.

Fintech M&A Deal Tracker — August continues record-breaking year of megadeals: London Stock Exchange Group's $16.55 billion planned acquisition of financial analytics provider Refinitiv Holdings, announced in August, marks the fourth-largest transaction announced in the fintech industry in 2019, behind the three megamergers in the payment processing space.

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng fell 1.91% to 25,680.33, and the Nikkei 225 dropped 2.17% to 20,261.04.

In Europe, around midday, the Euronext 100 was up 0.32% to 1,038.53.

On the macro front

The Durable Goods Orders, Chicago Fed National Activity Index and the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey are due out today.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

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