The European Central Bank said Friday it had fined French bank Credit Agricole €7.55 million ($9 million) for failing to properly identify climate change-related risks that could affect its balance sheet. "Credit Agricole did not sufficiently assess the materiality of its climate-related and environmental risks" by a deadline set after an investigation in 2024, the ECB said in a statement, adding the bank was late by "75 full days".
President Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and chief executive Jamie Dimon on Thursday, seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations that the country's biggest bank closed his account for political reasons. The lawsuit follows through on a threat Trump made on his Truth Social network over the weekend and caps several days of escalating tensions between the president and one of the most powerful CEOs in the United States.
Gareth Thomas, a former business minister, has tabled a 10-minute rule bill that would require banks to measure, disclose and improve how they serve underserved communities and smaller firms. The proposal mirrors the US Community Reinvestment Act, which obliges American banks to demonstrate how they support poorer areas and small enterprises. Thomas said the cost of living crisis had exposed deep weaknesses in access to affordable credit across the UK economy.
Chief executive Eddie Yue introduced them in late 2024 in a letter [PDF] that stated they're needed due to "the surge in fraud and scam cases in recent years with customer losses typically involving payments from customers' bank accounts." Yue observed that scammers sometimes establish internet banking accounts without customers' permission. The Monetary Authority therefore required all local banks to establish Money Safe accounts that allow customers to set aside funds which they can only access by visiting a brick-and-mortar bank.
This week's practical must-reads from The Local include common traps that catch out property hunters, what increasing the 'franchise médicale' means for your health bills, and the small town in south-west France that's up there with Europe's big cultural guns. Buying a house always carries a risk, but it can be harder doing it in a foreign country where you are unfamiliar with the sales process, tax regulations or local bylaws.
Nigel Farage could strip the City watchdog of its power to regulate the banking industry under a sweeping overhaul to undo changes made after the 2008 financial crisis if Reform UK was elected to government. The leader of the party at the top of opinion polls has said he wants to prepare for the potential for an early general election in 2027.
"Overdraft and non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees are 'one of the most common exploitative mechanisms big banks use to target the poor,' Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) wrote to 25 banks on August 28, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and Bank of America. 'When consumers' finances are already stretched thin, exorbitant overdraft fees can cause other payments to bounce - leading to even more fees in a vicious circle that can 'turn setbacks into crises,'"
The White House is preparing to step up pressure against big banks over perceived discrimination against conservatives and crypto companies with an executive order that threatens to fine lenders that drop customers for political reasons.
