* Stifel Financial agreed to acquire B&F Capital Markets, which provides regional and community banks with interest rate swap capabilities. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
* Verisk signed an agreement to acquire Genscape, 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, a Verisk business.
* Bank of England Governor Mark Carney challenged the dominance of the U.S. dollar and called for the creation of a virtual reserve currency, which would be backed by central banks. Carney proposed the idea to ease the impact of the dollar on global financial conditions.
* Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services Maxine Waters and 101 members of Congress have sent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger a letter asking her to reconsider CFPB's decision to roll back the 2017 Payday rule, which would remove key protections for consumers. Kraninger was also urged to reconsider the final rule delaying the Payday rule implementation.
* The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said Kunal Kalra, a man from Westwood, Los Angeles, agreed to plead guilty to four felonies that included owning and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business where he exchanged up to $25 million in cash and virtual currency for individuals, including Darknet drug dealers and other criminals, some of whom used his Bitcoin ATM kiosk. This marks the first federal criminal case that charged an unlicensed remitting business using a Bitcoin kiosk.
* The National Credit Union Administration has granted a federal charter and share insurance fund coverage to Maine Harvest FCU. Maine Harvest will provide affordable member business loans to small farms and other food producers.
* New York-based investment firm Avenue Capital Group has agreed to acquire U.K.-based Pollen Street Capital's full stake in Irish lending platform Castlehaven Finance for over €250 million.
* The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will now use public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps to help determine if someone is a "public charge," which is the federal government's measure of an individual's reliance on government assistance. Healthcare experts say the new rule could lead to a significant drop in Medicaid enrollment.
* History suggests it will likely take a significant natural catastrophe or another material adverse development to keep the U.S. P&C insurance industry from producing a statutory net underwriting gain for a second consecutive calendar year.
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