2025-11-12 16:40

Fed aims for risk-tailored access to payment services by 4Q 2026 Waller emphasizes rapid progress and innovation at the Fed Fed to seek industry and public comments on new payment accounts Nov 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve aims to get a new set of streamlined payment accounts that would allow risk-tailored access to Fed payment services operational by the fourth quarter of next year, Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Wednesday. "We're moving at startup speed on this: we're not screwing around like federal regulators," Waller said as he announced the accelerated timeline for the creation of the new accounts. "I try to live the mantra...we are a new Fed: we are moving, we are doing things, we have to act." Sign up here. Waller, who chairs the Fed's internal payments committee, first detailed last month how these "skinny" accounts might work, granting firms access to the Fed's payments infrastructure without accompanying services and backstops. On Wednesday he told a Philadelphia Fed fintech conference that the Fed would "very quickly" be putting out a "request for information" to collect industry and public comments on the plan before issuing a formal rules proposal and finalizing what he envisions to be a tiered approach to payment account access. Meanwhile, he said, the Fed has already begun working on developing the technology to handle the accounts. Eligibility for "master accounts" - a terminology Waller said the Fed will retire in favor of the more generic "payment accounts" - will not change under the new system, he said on Wednesday. "The goal here, assuming nothing goes haywire, is to have these up and operationalized by the fourth quarter of 2026," Waller said. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/feds-waller-streamlined-payment-accounts-be-operational-by-4q-2026-2025-11-12/

2025-11-12 15:06

MEXICO CITY/BUENOS AIRES, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Mexican energy producer Vista (VISTAA.MX) , opens new tab is set to invest more than $4.5 billion in the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation in Argentina in a bid to boost production, the firm said on Wednesday. Vista expects its output to climb to more than 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) by 2030, from an expected 114,000 boe/d this year, it said in a presentation to investors. Sign up here. Mexico City-listed shares in the company were up nearly 2% after opening, to 950 pesos ($51.72) apiece. Vista is Argentina's second-largest shale producer, and has invested heavily in Vaca Muerta. The firm is planning to double its export revenues in the next three years, it said, projecting to bring in $8 billion over the period. Core earnings, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), was expected to climb 75% from 2025 to 2028, reaching $2.8 billion, Vista added. ($1 = 18.3694 Mexican pesos) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mexicos-vista-invest-45-billion-argentinas-vaca-muerta-shale-formation-2025-11-12/

2025-11-12 15:05

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank is preparing to advance tighter regulation of the financial system to curb a rise in cyberattacks, the bank's supervision director, Ailton Aquino, said on Wednesday. This year, 68 incidents have been reported through October, including 37 cases of fraud, he said at a press conference in Sao Paulo. Sign up here. That represents the highest number since the central bank began tracking such data in 2018 and is already above the 59 cases recorded in all of last year, according to the bank's Financial Stability Report released earlier in the day. Aquino cited the need for stronger oversight of third-party services and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which act as bridges allowing different software systems to communicate securely and automatically with each other. He said the central bank was finalizing rules for direct connections to the financial system's network and expected to release them soon. "The agenda remains strong," Aquino said. In September, the central bank issued new rules to strengthen the security of the country's financial system, and earlier this week it regulated the crypto assets market to help prevent money laundering and fraud. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-central-bank-vows-tougher-rules-after-surge-financial-system-2025-11-12/

2025-11-12 14:14

EBA says MiCA's stablecoin safeguards should be used ESRB and ECB concerned about risks around redemption requests Stablecoin demand growing fast, nearly all in dollars PARIS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Europe's existing crypto rules already contain safeguards against risks posed by stablecoins, the region's banking supervisor told Reuters, after the European Central Bank warned that the tokens could threaten financial stability. The ECB and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) have urged Brussels to ban the “multi-issuance” model, where global stablecoin firms treat tokens they issue in the EU as interchangeable with those outside the bloc. The ESRB, chaired by ECB President Christine Lagarde, said in a report that a rush by non-EU holders to redeem EU-issued tokens could “amplify runs within the bloc.” Sign up here. Asked about the ESRB's concerns, a spokesperson for the Paris-based European Banking Authority said the report "reflects the inherent risks related to potential massive redemption requests" but their severity depended on a stablecoin's business model and scale. "Based on these elements, necessary safeguards following MiCA should be put in place to mitigate the risk," the spokesperson added. The EBA said it was waiting for clarification from the European Commission on whether multi-issuance is allowed under the EU's crypto rules, known as MiCA. Issuers of stablecoins - a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a currency, usually the U.S. dollar - say they hold dollar-based reserves to enable redemptions. "From a liquidity point of view, issuers need to hold an amount of liquid assets to meet potential redemption requests. And this should work at a global level," Luis del Olmo, senior expert at the EBA, said in an interview. Stablecoins remain a small part of the financial system but they are growing fast, driven by El Salvador-based Tether. Circle's USDC, the largest EU-regulated stablecoin using multi-issuance, has $75 billion tokens in circulation. National regulators oversee MiCA-licensed entities, but the EBA will directly supervise significant stablecoins. People familiar with the positions of two national regulators told Reuters they share the concerns of the ECB and ESRB, speaking on condition of anonymity. One source said they were worried the U.S. could prevent reserves from being transferred to Europe to meet redemption requests. The European Commission has signalled that it sees no need for major changes to MiCA. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/existing-eu-crypto-rules-address-stablecoin-risk-banking-regulator-says-2025-11-12/

2025-11-12 12:44

FTSE 100 down 0.1%, FTSE 250 up 0.1% BP and Shell decline as oil drops SSE soars on 33 billion pounds investment plan Nov 12 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 index edged lower on Wednesday after closing at record high levels for two consecutive sessions, as losses in industrials and energy shares weighed on the market. The blue-chip index (.FTSE) , opens new tab was down 0.1% at 9,886 points as of 1214 GMT, but still hovering near record levels and within striking distance of the 10,000 mark. The mid-cap index FTSE 250 (.FTMC) , opens new tab gained 0.1%. Sign up here. Market sentiment improved earlier this week on hopes of a U.S. government shutdown resolution. Investors are now expecting that the U.S. House of Representatives might soon vote to end the shutdown that has suspended crucial economic data releases. This resolution would likely provide greater clarity for the Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decisions. In UK markets, industrial shares (.FTNMX502050) , opens new tab declined 1.3%, with credit data specialist Experian (EXPN.L) , opens new tab dropping 3.1% despite forecasting full-year revenue growth of 11%, the upper end of its outlook range. Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN.L) , opens new tab was down 0.5%, retreating from the record high achieved in the previous session. The broader pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector (.FTNMX201030) , opens new tab slipped 0.6%. Energy shares (.FTNMX601010) , opens new tab weakened as oil prices dipped following Tuesday's surge, with oil majors BP (BP.L) , opens new tab and Shell (SHEL.L) , opens new tab falling 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively. Homebuilders (.FTNMX402020) , opens new tab declined 1.8%. Taylor Wimpey's (TW.L) , opens new tab shares fell nearly 4% after reporting a softer autumn selling season as British buyers hesitated ahead of the budget announcement. Conversely, personal goods (.FTNMX402040) , opens new tab led the gainers, rising 3.2%. Utilities (.FTUB6510) , opens new tab advanced 2.4% as SSE (SSE.L) , opens new tab surged 12.3% to a record high after unveiling a 33 billion pounds ($44.29 billion) five-year investment plan to upgrade the UK's regulated electricity networks and expand its renewable business. Looking ahead, market participants are awaiting Thursday's preliminary UK GDP figures for the third quarter, which will offer crucial insights into the nation's economic health before the government's budget announcement later this month. Among other stocks, Smithson Investment (SSON.L) , opens new tab rose 6.7% after announcing plans to convert its assets into an open-ended fund, while Avon Technologies (AVON.L) , opens new tab jumped 8.3% to a five-year high following an upbeat fiscal year outlook. ($1 = 0.7451 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uks-ftse-100-edges-lower-industrial-energy-shares-weigh-2025-11-12/

2025-11-12 12:32

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Wednesday that about 3% of Russia's total grain harvest will come from its "new territories" in Ukraine this year, the same as last year's figure despite a drought there and in adjoining regions during the summer. Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which Russia largely controls, harvested about 4 million tons of grain, slightly less than in 2024, and 600,000 tons of oilseeds from about 3 million hectares of land. Sign up here. Russia refers to the four regions as "new territories"; they are still internationally recognised as Ukrainian. Ukraine considers all grain produced in the four regions and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, to have been stolen by Moscow, and regularly asks its Western allies to sanction importers of it. Lut said the state subsidies for farmers in the regions had increased by 70% in 2025 - Russia's third full year of control. Russia expects to harvest 135 million tons of grain in total this year. Speaking in parliament, Lut said that since the start of the military campaign in Ukraine in 2022, Russia had cleared mines from about 200,000 hectares of land in the regions, increasing the bank of arable land. She said that mine clearing was ongoing. https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-controlled-ukrainian-regions-make-up-3-russias-harvest-moscow-says-2025-11-12/