A top US bank regulator opted not to consider new policies that would have imposed stricter oversight on asset managers with sizeable investments in banks like Blackrock and Vanguard, even as agency officials agreed the matter merited more attention. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation postponed votes on two competing plans that would have given the agency more power to scrutinize asset managers after it was clear neither had the majority backing of the five-member board. "If these fund complexes are using their purportedly passive investment funds to push social policy, to influence bank policy, there's a real significant issue here," said FDIC board member Jonathan McKernan at the agency's public board meeting on Thursday.
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer shutting down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said. The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, said the sources close to the parent. TikTok accounts for a small share of ByteDance's total revenues and daily active users, so the parent would rather have the app shut down in the U.S. in a worst case scenario than sell it to a potential American buyer, they said.
The prime minister warns that El Niño-triggered heavy rains are likely to continue into May.