Citing the need for a level playing field in access to critical minerals, deep-water ports and other key infrastructure or assets, the Trump Administration has paused the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) until August, with a possible extension to February 2026.
The FCPA, which was passed on the heels of numerous corporate corruption disclosures, makes it unlawful for any corporate officer, director, employee, company agent, or company shareholder “to offer, pay, or promise to pay money or anything of value to any foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business.”
The “over expansive and unpredictable FCPA enforcement against American citizens and businesses—by our own Government—for routine business practices in other nations not only wastes limited prosecutorial resources that could be dedicated to preserving American freedoms, but actively harms American economic competitiveness and, therefore, national security,” wrote Trump in the executive order.
Under the executive order, US Attorney General Pam Bondi has until Aug. 9 to review the guidelines and policies that govern FCPA investigations and enforcement actions and issue updated guidelines as appropriate to promote Article II authority to conduct foreign affairs. Bondi can extend her deadline for another 180 days if necessary. Upon updating the guidance, Bondi will decide whether the Department of Justice’s remedial actions are needed for previous FCPA investigations and enforcements or if presidential actions are required.
According to the authors of a post on the law firm Case & White’s blog, companies should continue to use their usual business policies.
“Notwithstanding the administration’s dramatic shift in approach to FCPA enforcement, companies should remain focused on anti-bribery and corruption compliance and, as warranted, internal investigations, given the five-year statute of limitations for FCPA offenses and the ability to toll that period for up to an additional three years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s parallel enforcement authority with respect to issuers (at least for now), and enforcement regimes in foreign countries and at multilateral development banks,” they wrote.
While Mexico and Canada have secured a one-month reprieve from the Trump administration’s 25% tariff hike, US automakers and parts manufacturers remain on edge, awaiting further developments in the trade dispute among the three nations.
Given the deep integration of the US auto industry’s supply chain with its northern and southern neighbors, any tariff increase after the pause would come at a significant cost.
General Motors, the largest US automaker, produces 40% of its vehicles in Mexico and Canada. According to the Cato Institute, Mexican GM plants exported more than 700,000 vehicles to the US last year. Ford is less exposed. Only 358,000 of its vehicles came from Mexico in 2024. Stellantis—maker of the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram product lines—followed with 314,000 vehicles. The Big Three’s foreign counterparts, Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen, are also heavily invested in North America and would suffer as well.
Bernstein Research calculates that a 25% tariff would burden the auto industry with a $110 million daily surcharge; and Jefferies, the investment bank, estimates the tariffs would add $2,700 to the average price of a vehicle. Retail prices would go up, prodding consumers to buy less.
“The North American auto industry is highly integrated, and the imposition of tariffs would be detrimental to American jobs, investment, and consumers,” says Jennifer Safavian, CEO of Autos Drive America, the lobby representing foreign carmakers.
Big brands are used to assembling vehicles in the US, Canada, and Mexico. They procure essential components, including motors, transmissions, and simple components, from across the border. Some parts cross back and forth five or six times before they are incorporated into a finished vehicle. A 2025 Cato tariff study tracked a capacitor—an electrical component in a circuit board—on its journey. It was first bought in Colorado and shipped to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico to be included in a circuit board. The component was spotted in El Paso, Texas; and Matamoros, Mexico. It finished its trajectory in two seat-manufacturing plants, in Arlington, Texas; and Mississauga, Ontario.
After more than three years, CIBC Caribbean wrapped up its segment of a groupwide efficiency drive last month with the successful transfer of its Saint Maarten operations to Orco Bank. The divestment drive began in October 2021; since then, CIBC has sold operations in Aruba, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well.
“Our country divestment program is now over,” said CIBC Caribbean’s CEO Mark St. Hill, in a statement. “These were some very complex transactions, and it is a credit to [CIBC’s team’s and buyer banks’] expertise and professionalism that we were able to complete all of them within the timeframe that we set out and with relative ease.”
Operating as CIBC FirstCaribbean in the Dutch Caribbean, the bank’s reduced regional footprint has resulted in a modern, slimmed-down bank, St. Hill added. Changes included centralizing key functions, including digital sales through LoanStore; launching an agile work plan; and revamping its call centers into contact centers.
Parent CIBC has been refocusing on its core markets to accelerate growth. The ownership changes are subject to local banking regulatory approval, which is expected in the forthcoming months.
“Acquiring CIBC FirstCaribbean’s banking assets presents an excellent opportunity for Orco Bank,” says Edward Pietersz, Orco managing director and CEO. “With an expanded reach, we are well positioned to fulfill our mission of being the preferred partner, offering innovative, customer-driven solutions that enable financial freedom in a responsible and sustainable manner while creating shared value for our communities.”
A similar effort to de-risk the region by National Commercial Bank Jamaica with the sale of its Cayman Islands subsidiary NCB Cayman has fallen through. The transaction failed to be completed within the agreed timeframe, parent NCB Financial Group revealed. But rumors persist that other international banks are considering selling some of their Caribbean assets due to poor performance and high compliance costs in the region.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) are considering whether to ease initial public offering rules for mainland Chinese companies.
Christopher Hui, the territory’s secretary for financial services and the treasury, said at a recent conference in Shenzhen that the bourse pledged to ease listing requirements for Chinese firms. The mainland regards the Special Administrative Region’s (SAR) capital markets as a valuable source of funding in realizing their wider global expansion goals.
Observers expect local markets watchdog and HKEX to propose amendments by the end of the year. Regulators conducting comprehensive studies are expected to showcase proposed measures to better the current fundraising system, Hui said at a meeting of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Financial Cooperation Committee in mid-February.
Hong Kong’s IPO market is still shaking off a multi-year slump as more mainland Chinese-listed firms seek dual listings on the SEHK.
Mainland firms are keen to learn the degree to which the territory’s regulators will streamline application procedures and lower listing requirements. HKEX figures indicate that, in January, the exchange received 30 IPO applications in January, including seven A+H applications for firms already possessing mainland-listed (A) shares that wanted to add Hong Kong (H) shares, or H shares.
According to Bonnie Chan, HKEX’s CEO, nearly 100 companies were in the city’s IPO pipeline as of January.
In February, electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) submitted listing documents to HKEX. The Ningde-based company will likely raise $5 billion—potentially the SAR’s biggest IPO in more than four years. Proceeds from the proposed IPO will help enhance mainland EV supply chain dominance.
In recent years, Hong Kong regulators have emphasized the importance of closer links between capital markets to uplift the mainland economy. They also stressed the SAR’s role as a bridge between mainland Chinese and global markets, while promising to create more cross-border investment mechanisms to facilitate increased capital flows. CATL, the world’s largest producer of batteries for electric vehicles, said proceeds from the proposed IPO would reinforce its global expansion, which would enhance China’s dominance in the EV supply chain.
The 18 Hong Kong banks comprising the territory’s joint task force on lending to small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) have agreed to discussions with other banks to assist SMEs in addressing cash flow pressures. Six member banks of the Hong Kong Association of Banks’ commercial banking group took the lead in January to negotiate fairer financial arrangements for SMEs facing capital-flow difficulties, especially in the construction sector; Other SME Financing Task Force member banks agreed to join the initiative.
Under the just-announced joint consultation mechanism, when an SME faces sudden, unexpected liquidity woes, it can directly contact its lender bank for relief. After obtaining the client’s authorization, the lending institution can contact other banks to discuss financial arrangements to reduce the pressure on the SME’s liquidity. The bank can then address the situation quickly and smoothly, focusing on reducing the SME’s cash-crunch worries. SMEs represent 98% of Hong Kong’s businesses, employing 45% of its private-sector workforce, according to government data.
In October, 16 major Hong Kong banks said they would provide 370 billion Hong Kong dollars ($47 billion) in their loan portfolios for SMEs. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority—the special administrative region’s de facto central bank and regulator—slashed its countercyclical capital buffer ratio to release another HK$300 billion to HK$400 billion in liquidity to facilitate more lending to SMEs.
Businesses that previously borrowed funds under the government-backed loan plan can apply for a principal repayment grace period of up to a year. Additionally, SMEs that borrowed from banks on the open market—outside the government program—can apply to renew their partial principal repayment options. The 18 banks on board are HSBC Holdings, Hang Seng Bank (owned by HSBC), Citibank (Hong Kong), Standard Chartered Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Bank of Communications (Hong Kong), Bank of East Asia, China CITIC Bank International, China Construction Bank (Asia), Dah Sing Bank, DBS Bank, Fubon Bank, Fulong Bank (Hong Kong), Nanyang Commercial Bank, OCBC Bank (Hong Kong), Shanghai Commercial Bank, and PAO Bank.
China’s financial sector, from banks to brokerages, is rapidly incorporating DeepSeek, the nation’s champion in AI, for customer service, data analysis, and email sorting. Dozens of firms have committed to implementing DeepSeek or specific applications of the AI large language model since January, when the Hangzhou-based app developer emerged as China’s low-cost alternative to Western competitors such as ChatGPT.
State-owned giants Postal Savings Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), as well as regional lenders Bank of Jiangsu, Bank of Nanjing, Haain Rural Commercial Bank, and Bank of Beijing, were among the Chinese banking industry’s first to adopt DeepSeek.
Brokerages including Sinolink Securities, Industrial Securities, and GF Securities quickly followed suit. Ping An Group and New China Life insurers, as well as more than 10 asset managers including Fullgoal and China Universal, have also adopted DeepSeek.
According to a Bank of China Research Institute report, the financial sector has embraced DeepSeek’s promise of high performance and efficient training at costs below its Western peers. State media recently broadcast footage of Chinese President Xi Jinping shaking hands with DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, signaling official support for an AI company whose Chinese clients outside financial circles include smartphone maker Oppo, carmaker BYD, and the Baidu search engine.
Customer chatbots running on DeepSeek are the most common financial sector applications. Postal Savings Bank’s mobile app, Xiaoyou Assistant, answers account holder questions and Haain Bank’s chatbot specializes in marketing queries. ICBC uses DeepSeek for wealth management tasks and financial data analysis. Bank of Beijing uses the app for data analysis through a partnership with Chinese IT conglomerate Huawei.
Bank of Jiangsu says the app is powering “contract quality inspection and automatic reconciliation evaluations” as well as “the mining and analysis of massive amounts of financial data.” In addition, DeepSeek helps the bank sort and respond to thousands of emails received daily. Sinolink had been exploring AI for data analysis and customer service for years before DeepSeek’s rollout, the firm noted in a press release. Already, “the project has achieved positive results, and the company will optimize the DeepSeek model in the future to achieve higher business goals,” including “risk control.”
El Salvador’s heralded adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender appears to be undergoing a significant downgrade as businesses are no longer obliged to accept the cryptocurrency.
As part of a $1.4 billion loan agreed with the International Monetary Fund in December, the government’s involvement with the digital Chivo wallet will be “gradually unwound.” At the end of January, on a vote of 55-2, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly passed modifications to the Bitcoin law, eliminating the word “currency” but keeping it legal tender. The changes will take effect May 1, 90 days after the legislation appeared in the official newspaper.
“Bitcoin no longer has the strength of legal tender,” economist Rafael Lemus told AFP. “It should have always been that way, but the government tried to force it into existence, and it didn’t work.”
Users are now free to accept Bitcoin or not, but it cannot be used to pay taxes or state bills. President Nayib Bukele admitted that introducing Bitcoin as an official currency alongside the US dollar in September 2021—the world’s first such move—had been his government’s “most unpopular” measure, alongside stringent anti-gang security measures.
El Salvador still has 688 Bitcoin in reserve, worth an estimated $574 million, of which $287 million is profit.
On February 13, Bukele and Microstrategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor discussed how Bitcoin adoption could be accelerated worldwide, with El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office considering establishing nodes in each household. The aim was to boost public perception of how Bitcoin can work in daily settings.
“President Bukele continues to buy Bitcoin, we have a Bitcoin Office, we have the Bitcoin Law, Bitcoin can be used in El Salvador,” El Salvador’s ambassador to the US, Milena Mayorga, assured at a Bitcoin conference.” But, “it has not been an easy road.” A survey published by the Jesuit Central American University in January revealed 92% of Salvadorans had not used Bitcoin in 2024. Of the 8% who said they had done so, the average was only 14 times a year. Family remittances via digital wallets amounted to $7.22 million in December 2024, less than 1% of the total sent.
California’s recent traumatic spate of wildfires has spotlighted the often clunky process of traditional commercial insurance.
Typically, businesses are required to document their losses, file a claim, and wait months or even years for reimbursement. Insurance companies must meticulously assess damages, verify that a claim was not excluded from the policy, and determine how much to pay. Midsize companies and multifamily property owners can go bankrupt waiting for reimbursement.
Some businesses are choosing another option that promises to get them help faster: parametric policies. Allied Market Research forecasts that the global parametric insurance market, which totaled $18 billion in 2023, will grow to more than $34 billion by 2033.
Parametric insurance has been around for years, covering catastrophes like tropical cyclones, other weather-related events, and earthquakes. These policies’ main advantage is a faster payout, since the insurer agrees to pay a predefined sum when a specific peril reaches a predefined magnitude. Payment is triggered by parameters that can be measured quickly, such as rainfall, hurricane category, or wind speed.
The insurer knows how much the insurance subscriber will pay, and the subscriber understands the amount of coverage it will get. Both are aware of the conditions necessary to green-light the payment.
Parametric policies are expensive: A $1 million wildfire insurance policy could require $50,000 in annual premium payments. But the increased frequency of natural disasters is emphasizing the need for faster procedures. Ten years ago, wildfires were considered secondary perils and not regarded as existential threats. The 2016 Fort McMurray fire in Alberta, Canada, changed that attitude within the insurance industry: The fire caused $3 billion in losses, which at that time was considered enormous.
Since then, wildfire costs in the US have multiplied, totaling $67 billion in insured losses in 2024, not counting the 2025 fires, according to reinsurer Munich Re.
More than a year after the first rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Fed since the pandemic, Australia has finally joined the global rate cycle by trimming borrowing costs in the country by a quarter point in late February.
The Pacific country is one of the last developed economies in the world to pivot on its interest rate stance. The lone exception remains Japan, which is, in fact, raising capital costs after decades of negative rates and inflation.
The quarter-point cut will bring Australia’s cash rate target to 4.10% and the interest rate paid on exchange settlement balances to 4%, a tab lower than the Fed’s current 4.25% rate.
In her policy decision statement, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Michele Bullock attributed the cuts to subsiding inflation, which has hit 3.2% in the latest report. She also mentioned continued “subdued growth in private demand,” as another key driver of the rate cut.
The latest quarter-on-quarter GDP report for the country came in at 0.3%, well below general expectations of a 0.5% increase. Year-on-year economic growth figures also disappointed, showing a 0.8% increase against a 1.1% expectation.
Despite the milestone move by the RBA, the market interpreted the news as a “hawkish” cut, as Bullock was quick to dampen expectations for deeper rate cuts in the next few meetings.
“The market is expecting quite a few more interest rate cuts in the middle of next year, about three more on top of this,” said Bullock in the news conference that followed the RBA statement. “Whether or not that eventuates is going to depend very much on the data. Our feeling at the moment is that that is far too confident.”
As a consequence, the market adapted its expectations for rate cuts in the country, pushing the Australian dollar upward against the US dollar, an unusual follow-up to a rate cut. “Interest rate swaps markets now price in fewer than two further rate cuts from the RBA this year, with the second of the cycle not fully priced until August,” explained David Scutt, an analyst at Forex.com.
While insisting he is not eager to take the firm public, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), has said he aims to build it into an enduring company.
On the Invest Like the Best podcast, Andreessen condemned the traditional venture capital partnership model, which he sees as flawed as it relies on a small group of founding father’s expertise and holds little lasting value once they retire.
To transition a16z from a traditional VC partnership model to a more structured, scalable business would involve adopting practices seen in long-lasting financial institutions, such as, J.P. Morgan and Blackstone—focusing on structured management, scalability, and long-term sustainability.
The goal, he explains, is to ensure a16z continues to operate and support founders across multiple generations—moving beyond the limitations of the traditional VC model, which relies heavily on individual partners. By doing this, Andreessen believes a16z would maintain its position as a leading investor and avoid the interpersonal conflicts that often plague partnerships.
Criticisms of the VC partnership model include: unrealistic growth expectations placed on startups, potential for misaligned incentives between founders and investors, a focus on short-term profits over long-term sustainability, pressure to make quick decisions that might not be in the best interest of the company, and the loss of control for founders due to giving up equity to investors; essentially, the model can incentivize rapid growth at the expense of a company’s long-term health and founder autonomy.
In 2019, Vinod Khosl, founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and founder of Khosla Ventures, told Sam Altman: “90% of VCs do not bring any value to startups, and 70% even harm them.” If they continue to chase the next billion-dollar unicorn, they miss opportunities to invest in more sustainable businesses, Khosla explained. By shifting focus from short-term gains and quick exits to long-term company building and sustainable growth for portfolio companies, VCs can support startups in achieving steady, manageable growth that aligns with their long-term vision. They can also broaden their investment criteria to include startups with various business models, not just those with the potential for explosive growth.
By shifting focus from short-term gains and quick exits to long-term company building and sustainable growth for portfolio companies, VCs can support startups in achieving steady, manageable growth that aligns with their long-term vision. They can also broaden their investment criteria to include startups with various business models, not just those with the potential for explosive growth.
