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The Morning Risk Report: U.S. Competition Policy Is Aligning With Europe, and Deeper Cooperation Could Follow |
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| Competition policy was on the agenda during President Biden’s June trip to Brussels, where he met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. PHOTO: OLIVIER HOSLET/SHUTTERSTOCK |
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Good morning. The European Union’s top antitrust regulator foresees greater alignment with the U.S. on competition enforcement, particularly in the tech sector, amid a broader policy reorientation under the Biden administration. EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition commissioner, said she expects “much more intense work when it comes to technology and the digitized market” between her team and Washington. [Continued below...] |
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President Biden’s policy statements and appointments, plus legislative proposals from Congress, indicate the U.S. is moving closer to positions long held in the EU regarding internet giants, pharmaceutical firms and other industries with diminishing competition. As the world’s two most powerful antitrust regulators, the U.S. and the EU can shape global competition discourse and rein in many of the world’s largest companies, so greater cooperation could have significant impact. |
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| From Risk & Compliance Journal |
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U.S. Banking Regulators Seek Comment on Third-Party Relationships Guidance |
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The interagency guidance on third-party relationships proposed by three banking regulators highlights the risks financial institutions face as banks increasingly rely on outside vendors and financial-technology companies for products and services, industry observers said. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are seeking comment on proposed guidance that offers a risk-management framework for third-party relationships, the agencies said this week. |
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| Rules over wearing head scarves vary widely across the European Union. PHOTO: MARKUS SCHREIBER/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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- The European Union’s top court said Thursday that employers may ban the wearing of head scarves and other religious symbols but set out conditions on when such prohibitions comply with the bloc’s antidiscrimination laws. The ruling comes amid intensifying debate in Europe over racism and the protection of minority rights following a surge of anti-immigrant parties over recent years.
- The number of U.S. lawsuits alleging that websites, apps and digital videos were inaccessible to people with disabilities rose 64% in the first half of 2021 from a year earlier, a new report says. Plaintiffs filed 1,661 lawsuits claiming digital violations of either the federal Americans with Disabilities Act or California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act between Jan. 1 and June 30, according to the report by UsableNet Inc.
- Lawmakers rushed to steady a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure agreement, as one of their central financing proposals threatened to fall out of the plan before an initial Senate vote next week. Lawmakers and aides said the group may abandon an effort to raise revenue through enhanced enforcement at the Internal Revenue Service after some Republicans said they were concerned about granting the tax agency new power.
- China sent regulators including state security and police officials to Didi Global Inc.’s ride-hailing business on Friday as part of a cybersecurity investigation, the latest development in a regulatory saga that has gripped China’s tech industry.
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| A CVS spokesman said the company is working with the supplier to ‘take appropriate additional steps.’ PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS |
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CVS Health Corp. said Thursday it has halted sales of two sun-care products in connection with a Johnson & Johnson recall of spray-sunscreens due to the detection of a potentially cancer-causing chemical in some samples of spray-sunscreens. J&J said Wednesday it would recall most of its Neutrogena and Aveeno spray sunscreens from U.S. stores. The move came after Valisure LLC, an online pharmacy, said in May that it found high levels of benzene in 24 sunscreens and other suncare products and recommended pulling them from shelves. |
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- Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said recent inflation was uncomfortably above the levels the central bank seeks, concluding two days of testimony in which he sounded somewhat less confident about the economic outlook—and the Fed’s policy path—than earlier this year.
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| Boeing expects it will reverse the outflow of cash next year, but that partly hinges on delivering more 787 Dreamliners. PHOTO: TORU HANAI/BLOOMBERG NEWS |
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Boeing Co. Chief Executive David Calhoun took over the top job in January 2020 with a mandate to overcome the company’s management, engineering and production problems. These have hobbled the manufacturer and allowed its European rival Airbus SE to displace it as the world’s biggest plane maker. A year and a half into his tenure, new snags keep popping up. |
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| Delta Air Lines is in the unfortunate position of sharing its name with a highly transmissible Covid-19 variant that has become the dominant strain in the U.S. PHOTO: CHARLIE RIEDEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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Airlines are trying to put the Covid-19 pandemic behind them. For Delta Air Lines Inc., by virtue of its name, it may be a bit harder. Airlines are coming off what executives have said was the most difficult year in their history. The coronavirus decimated travel demand: People canceled trips in droves and planes took off nearly empty for months. Major airlines lost some $35 billion last year. All airlines faced those troubles. Only Delta is in the unfortunate position of sharing its moniker with a highly transmissible variant of the virus that has been linked to a new surge of infections world-wide. “We just call it the variant,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview. |
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| The once-bustling Elefsina shipyard, founded in 1968, now sits largely idle. PHOTO: MYRTO PAPADOPOULOS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL |
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An aging shipyard in Greece has a new suitor sizing it up for investment: the U.S. government. To counter China’s rising global economic influence, Washington has taken a new direction with foreign assistance. Rather than just lend money or promote trade, as in recent decades, the U.S. is now investing dollars overseas to advance American national-security interests. It wants ports, cellular networks and other strategic assets to stay in friendly hands. |
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