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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed regulatory changes aimed at expanding retail investor access to private assets, including private equity, private credit, real estate, and venture capital. The proposals could allow more professionals, including accountants, financial analysts, financial planners, investment banking license holders, and research analysts, to qualify as accredited investors. The SEC also proposed changes that would give investment advisers greater flexibility to charge performance fees and allow closed-end funds to offer monthly share redemptions and additional share classes. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said investment opportunities should not be restricted solely to wealthy or highly sophisticated investors, while acknowledging the risks associated with private markets. Industry groups welcomed the proposals as a way to broaden investor choice, while critics warned that private assets can be difficult to value, less liquid, and subject to complex fees. Some financial advisers also cautioned that performance-based compensation could encourage greater risk-taking. The proposals will undergo a public comment period before the SEC decides whether to adopt them.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Wealth Management

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has informed more than 100 organizations about incidents involving unauthorized activity tied to its ​AI agents. "In some cases, models used internet access in unintended ways or, in retrospect, did not have the ideal restrictions applied. Over the last ​several months, ​we have ⁠been applying new technical and operational measures to avoid similar problems, or catch ​them very early, and will continue this ​work," ⁠OpenAI wrote in a blog post.

 

Reuters

Washington Post

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, has urged governments to enhance testing of frontier AI models before public release, saying this is "essential if we are to understand the behavior of increasingly complex systems." He highlighted the risks posed by advanced AI to banking, financial markets and payment systems, saying that the "closed loop" nature of these technologies limits oversight. The Bank's Financial Policy Committee has warned that rapidly growing AI-related debt, complex financing arrangements and links between technology firms could amplify losses and increase financial stability risks if expectations about AI’s economic benefits weaken.

 

Financial Times

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), Boeing's largest white-collar union, have approved a new four-year contract offer, ending fears of a strike. "We secured many victories that some thought were completely out of reach when this ​negotiation cycle started. All of these gains would not have been possible without your individual ⁠actions and our collective strength," the SPEEA negotiation team told members, who now "need to work ​with Boeing, and as needed, pressure Boeing management" to rebuild "trust with the membership that has eroded over the past decades" ​and "restore aerospace professionals and technicians to the center of Boeing's universe."

 

Reuters

Nike has announced plans to cut jobs and launch a $2.5bn cost-saving program as weakening demand across key markets weighs on sales. The sportswear group forecasts that revenue will fall by billions of dollars in its current fiscal year. First-quarter revenue fell 4% year-on-year to $11.2bn, below consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, while net income declined 2% to $712m. The group’s new five-year cost-cutting program, called Pace, is expected to deliver $2.5bn of savings and reduce Nike’s 73,000-strong workforce, although it has not disclosed how many roles will be affected or where the cuts will take place. Nike has also announced plans to open a new campus in Bengaluru, describing India as an important growth market and manufacturing hub, while consolidating its four geographic divisions into three.

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Financial Times

The Oregonian

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has terminated its contract with French health insurer Axa. A spokesperson for the Hague-based court gave no reason for the decision, and declined ​to name the new health insurance provider. Reuters notes that the FT said ‌in ⁠its report that Axa had cited "risks arising from the extraterritorial application of U.S. sanctions." U.S. President Donald Trump recently urged other ​countries to leave the ICC, calling it "evil" and "a rogue institution."

 

Financial Times

Reuters

Elon Musk has said Delta Air Lines’ CEO Ed Bastian will “lose his job” in response to an unverified report that he criticized him, as the billionaire escalated his feud with the carrier for choosing Amazon.com's Leo satellites over SpaceX's Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi. Bastian defended the decision in an interview with Bloomberg earlier this year, saying Amazon's service offers improved bandwidth at a lower price point than Starlink's. Bloomberg notes that internet access, once an add-on that passengers paid for begrudgingly, is now another front in carriers' competition for customers.

 

Bloomberg

Forbes

The Federal Reserve Inspector General has said it found that management and oversight failures contributed to major cost overruns in the central bank’s headquarters renovation, but there were no reasonable grounds to believe a federal crime occurred that required referral to the attorney general. The independent watchdog's report observed that "at no point during our evaluation did we find reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of federal criminal law had occurred requiring a referral to the US attorney general . . . Further, while our report outlines deficiencies in the ​management of the renovation project, resulting in our recommendation of corrective actions in accordance with the Inspector General Act, we did not identify administrative misconduct during our evaluation." President Donald Trump said he had directed Attorney General Todd Blanche "to study the report, and make a determination as to what to do."

 

CNBC

Reuters

Canada has made significant progress in combating money laundering since 2016, but gaps remain in its oversight of real estate firms, lawyers, precious metals dealers, and other non-financial sectors, according to the Financial Action Task Force. The international watchdog found improvements in areas including transparency, regulation, beneficial ownership information, and the assessment of risks from new technologies. Criminal Intelligence Service Canada estimates that between C$45bn and C$113bn is laundered in the country annually, with organized crime and professional money launderers posing the greatest threats. The FATF also highlighted growing risks associated with crowdfunding platforms and online casinos, while drug trafficking remains the most common underlying offense linked to money laundering. The watchdog recommended stronger supervision of real estate and other higher-risk sectors, noting that lawyers remain outside Canada's anti-money laundering and terrorist financing framework.

 

Bloomberg

Lyft is to pay $272.5m to settle claims by the ​state of California and the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego that the company mislabeled drivers as independent contractors rather than employees to save ​money. Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, described the agreement as a “landmark win for workers” and said it was the largest settlement involving wage theft claims in the state’s history. “Rideshare companies like Lyft have enjoyed massive growth and profits on the backs of drivers over the past decade, many of whom are from immigrant communities and communities of color,” Bonta said. “Lyft’s success would not be possible without the drivers Lyft sought to unfairly short-change.” The settlement, which subject to court approval, covers alleged violations between April 2016 and ​December 2020.

 

Reuters

The Guardian

Dave Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, has told Bloomberg that investors can expect slightly larger deals as the firm pursues assets in the “white spaces” of science. Ricks told Bloomberg during an interview on the sidelines of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Milan that Lilly doesn't have “a time crunch,” that drives the making of deals under financial pressure. “That’s a phenomena we describe as shopping when you’re hungry, and you can make mistakes,” he said.

 

Bloomberg

The U.S. merchandise trade deficit unexpectedly widened in August, increasing 11.5% from the previous month to $132.6bn, its largest level since early 2025 and well above economists’ median forecast of $115bn. Merchandise imports rose 5.5%, driven by a 16.6% surge in industrial supplies, including petroleum products, while imports of capital goods such as computers, semiconductors, and telecommunications equipment also increased. Goods exports climbed 1.9%, including higher shipments of industrial supplies. Trade flows have been affected by factors including the Iran war, U.S. companies stockpiling goods to limit supply-chain disruptions, and rising imports of equipment related to AI infrastructure. The wider deficit could weigh on third-quarter economic growth, while retail and wholesale inventories increased 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively. Relatedly, U.S. wholesale inventories increased 0.7% in August, ahead of forecasts for a 0.5% rise, but slowed from the previous month’s 1.3% increase.

 

Yahoo News

Bloomberg

Reuters

An analysis of 20 years of court cases reveals that 75% of Korea's semiconductor technology leaks were connected to China. Of 90 defendants in 24 cases, nearly half received prison terms, but only three were sentenced to over five years. Average prison sentences were under three years. The analysis highlighted a trend whereby Chinese companies recruit Korean engineers to help with the replication of technology. "Advanced technology leaks are rapidly shifting away from batteries and displays toward semiconductor equipment, an area China is particularly eager to develop," observed Park Hyun-cheol, an attorney with law firm LKB Pyeongsan, who primarily handles technology leak cases. "The methods are also becoming bolder and more sophisticated, going beyond recruiting key personnel to leaking design drawings and even copying entire pieces of equipment."

 

Korea Joongang Daily

People who prefer working and sleeping later may face a higher risk of leaving work because of ill health, according to Finnish research. A 12-year study of 5,679 people found evening types were 1.7 times more likely to receive a disability pension than morning types, even after socioeconomic factors were considered. Researchers suggested poorer health choices and misalignment between natural sleep patterns and conventional working hours could contribute to the increased risk. "Although traditional working hours may be too early for late chronotypes, most of them need to work during regular office hours," the authors of the study wrote. "In the current study, more than 70% of [evening types] who had reported their work schedule worked in a day job. People who are [evening types] represent a significant proportion of the population and their health and ability to continue working until retirement age pose challenges for sustainable economies."

 

Financial Times

The Times

The Times