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Canada's Barrick Mining has said it has reached an agreement with Mali's government to resolve its dispute over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mining complex. Barrick had been embroiled in a disagreement with the Malian government since the introduction of a new mining code in 2023 that gives Mali a bigger share of revenue from gold miners. The mining group said it will drop the arbitration case against Mali at the World Bank dispute tribunal; in return, Mali will drop all charges against Barrick and its affiliates, release four employees from jail, and concede operational control to Barrick.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

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A study by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky reveals a significant rise in résumés posted on underground forums, doubling in early 2024 compared to the previous year. The trend reflects a growing shadow job market that is absorbing unemployed and overqualified individuals amid AI-fuelled layoffs. Alexandra Fedosimova, a digital footprint analyst at Kaspersky, observed: "The shadow job market is no longer peripheral; it's absorbing the unemployed." The report highlights that résumés now outnumber vacancies by 55% to 45%, with many applicants willing to take any job, including illegal roles. Kaspersky urges monitoring of online activity to guide youth towards legitimate tech careers.

 

Khaleej Times Online

Reuters reports on how Savills Investment Management, a U.K. real estate manager which oversees €26bn ($29.93bn) in assets and is concerned about flood, fire and other climate-related risks to its properties sought help from London-based data analytics firm Climate X. Savills said the data crunched by Climate X aids its investment decisions and it may now use the firm's analytics to assess hundreds more properties. Reuters says the U.S. government's pullback from climate science has fuelled a boom for such private data firms. Revenues for the earth intelligence sector should rise at least 10% to $4.2bn by 2030, market analysis firm Gartner said.

 

Reuters

PYMNTS.com reports that a regulatory push on bank leverage and capital rules could impact fintech-bank partnerships. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Nov. 25 board agenda details a proposed overhaul of the community leverage bank ratio and a final rule on enhanced supplementary leverage ratio and total loss-absorbing capacity standards for global systemically important banks.

 

PYMNTS.com

The Banker reports that tensions around environmental, social and governance were a key factor in the split between the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (Baft) and its parent the American Bankers Association, according to a senior person familiar with the separation who observed that “policy began to move in different directions.” More than two-thirds (70%) of Baft members are based outside the U.S. “The [international] banking community was gearing up to support ESG initiatives, but in the US it is more of a sensitive political issue,” the person said. 

 

The Banker

The U.S. State Department has issued new guidelines to all U.S. embassies and consulates involved in compiling its annual report on global human rights abuses. U.S. outposts will be told to categorize policies including subsidizing abortion, facilitating mass migration and performing gender-transition surgery for children as human rights infringements. Laws that infringe on free speech and racially discriminatory employment practices are also on the list. "In recent years, new destructive ideologies have given safe harbor to human rights violations. The Trump administration will not allow these human rights violations . . . to go unchecked," deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. Critics accuse the administration of redefining long-established universal human rights principles to pursue its own ideological goals.

 

Reuters

BBC News

Daily Mail

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has said officials should monitor how unexpected losses in private credit may spread to the broader U.S. financial system due to the “increased complexity and the interconnections” with leveraged firms. She observed that recent private business bankruptcies in the auto sector revealed unexpected losses and exposure across a broad range of financial entities, and warned that a growing debt-fuelled trade that hedge funds are making in Treasury markets could magnify instability.

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Reuters

Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, has said that she does not see a strong necessity for an interest-rate cut next month, highlighting the challenges facing Chair Jerome Powell in reaching a consensus among Federal Reserve officials ahead of the December meeting. Collins noted that recent rate cuts have positioned the Fed slightly towards combating inflation, which remains above target. She characterized current financial conditions as supportive of the economy, suggesting there is no urgency for more accommodating monetary policies. While Collins has yet to decide on her vote for December, she previously indicated a high threshold for any further cuts.

 

Wall Street Journal

Apple has cut dozens of jobs within its sales organization as part of a restructuring effort aimed at streamlining how it sells to businesses, schools, and government agencies. Employees were informed over recent weeks, though Apple didn’t disclose the exact number of roles eliminated. The cuts affected account managers, briefing center staff, and even longtime employees, including members of a government-focused team, and followed smaller layoffs in Australia and New Zealand. While Apple publicly framed the move as eliminating overlapping responsibilities, some workers believe the company is shifting more sales activity to third-party resellers to reduce internal costs.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Walmart has opened its first store in South Africa, marking its entry into the African market as it targets a competitive landscape. A hundred shoppers lined up for the "Everyday Low Prices," seeking unique products unavailable in the region, such as children's toys and tech gadgets. The store also features a sixty-minute online delivery service, competing with local offerings. Walmart's executive, Andrea Albright, emphasised the company's commitment to helping customers save money and promoting local employment by creating 80 jobs and partnering with 15 local businesses.

 

Reuters

The IRS is deploying Salesforce’s Agentforce AI across key divisions, including Chief Counsel, the Taxpayer Advocate and Appeals, to help process cases faster amid a 25% workforce drop this year. The AI will handle tasks like summarizing files and searching case data but cannot make final decisions or release funds. IRS leaders say modernization made this shift inevitable and aim to use AI to support overstretched staff, not replace human oversight, as government agencies increasingly adopt large-scale AI tools.

 

Axios

A new report from the Center for Global Development (CGD) finds that wealthier countries, including the U.S. and Japan, are scaling back global development efforts, slashing aid and multilateral funding. The U.S. dropped to 28th in the Commitment to Development Index, with further declines expected due to policy shifts under President Trump, who has also shuttered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  Although some progress was noted in emissions cuts and migration support, CGD’s Ian Mitchell warned: “The changes the Trump administration is making are very significant.”  Sweden, Germany, and Norway lead the rankings.

 

Reuters