Ethan Hathaway

BANKING Blackstone joins the trillion dollar club Private equity firm, Blackstone, is the first private equity firm to reach $1 trillion of assets under management. Reaffirming the notion that Blackstone will own everything in the world. Everything. PAYMENTS Amazon to launch new biometric payment method Amazon’s “pay-by-pal” payment method, where you pay by holding your

FINTECH Monzo Merger? Monzo, the British digital bank, is contemplating a merger with Lunar, a Denmark digital bank. As Monzo eyes other mergers to expand across Europe. BANKING Canada’s Laurentian Bank, Looking for Suitor The 177 year old Canadian bank, Laurentian Bank, is looking for potential buyers. The ninth-largest lender in Canada, they’re finding it

ENERGY OPEC bro’s new applications are open OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is open for new applications to join as new members. In order to be considered for membership, the candidates must be net exporters of oil and have goals “aligned” (hint, hint, wink, wink) with those of OPEC. [via Grit Capital] INVESTMENT

COMPLIANCE Wall Street Banks Pass Compliance Tests 23 of Wall Street’s biggest banks passed (without the help of ChatGPT too!) their annual stress tests showing how the big banks are currently strong. Probably giving more reasons for small regional banks to bite their nails. BANKRUPTCIES Corporate Bankruptcies Increase Even though thoughts on a global recession

COMPLIANCE Google’s Anti-Money Laundering AI Google is releasing an AI-tool to help financial institutions with anti-money laundering. It’s already being deployed at HSBC in London and Brazil’s Banco Bradesco. The AI should be a boost to fighting anti-money laundering considering the job the humans are doing… (…ducks for cover, just kidding…or am I?). AI Banks

ECONOMY European Rates Hit 20 Year High The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates hitting the highest rates in the region in the last two decades. Hold on to your pants people, this is going to be a bumpy ride. AI AI in Wealth Management, Hold Your Horses As AI dominates the news headlines

ECONOMY US and UK Pledge to Continue Being Friends The US and the UK signed the “Atlantic Declaration”, pledging to partner up regarding AI, clean energy, crucial minerals and aid to Ukraine. [via Grit Capital] ECONOMY Eurozone in Recession for Q1 The Eurozone fell into recession for Q1 with a fuzzy future ahead, while Australia

FINTECH Digital Bank Monzo Turns Profit British digital bank, Monzo, announced they reached monthly profitability back in March of this year. With over 7m users in the UK, Monzo is the largest banking app in the UK. BANKING Goldman Considering Third Round of Cuts Goldman Sachs is contemplating a third round of layoffs with the

AI 6 Ways AI Will Help Your Receivables Risk There’s a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the latest headline darling, AI. While there’s cause for caution, the practical uses are looking to outweigh the possible doomsday cases. In terms of finance, here’s six ways AI will be able to help with debt collection and

MARKETS Recession? Pfftttttt Even with constant signs of looming recession, the S&P 500 closed at its highest in the year this past week. Investors don’t seem to be spooked by any looming signs of recession. BANKING Lazard CEO Steps Down Lazard CEO Ken Jacobs will be stepping down and will be replaced by his deputy,

IPO Saudi Aramco’s Slow Progress on IPO The energy behemoth that is Saudi Aramco, had planned to IPO its energy trading unit, however, things haven’t progressed as well as planned and currently hitting a snag. ETFs Cathie Wood-linked ETF Shut Down by Canadian Regulators Cathie Wood and her ETF’s were for a short time the

BANKING FDIC Refills Fund from Imposed Fees on Big Banks With the latest bank collapses (e.g. SVB, First Republic), the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp) plans to refill its Deposit Fund by imposing special fees on big banks. Fees will be charged based upon the size of their balance sheets and number of depositors. While

AI PwC Jumps into the AI Game We recently wrote about Bloomberg integrating AI into their service with BloombergGPT, now PwC announced it will invest $1bn in AI tools to assist their staff in audit, tax and consulting services. BANKING Barclays Q1 Profits Exceeds Expectations Barclays’ Q1 reported profits exceeded expectations, mostly buoyed by the

AI BloombergGPT You’d have to be living under a rock to not have heard all the talk about ChatGPT (OpenAI’s AI Large-Language Model). Now, Bloomberg has announced it has integrated AI tools with their service, aptly named: BloomberGPT. IPO Rakuten Bank Biggest IPO in Japan Since 2018 Bank stock took a beating lately, but Rakuten

BANKING Depositors Want More Following the collapses of SVB and Credit Suisse, the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, is asking to review how much protection depositors should have. Considering UK banks currently only protect up to £85,000 per account and EU banks protect £88,000 per account (less than US bank protection of £200,000). BANKING

CYBER RISKS What Executives Need to Know About Cyber Risks Data privacy and cyber risks are two issues increasing in importance for executives, watch this interview between Katie Couric and Google’s P of engineering for privacy, safety, and security, Royal Hansen, as they discuss the latest in how to protect your company, services and customer