– The Wall Street Journal reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ordered a stop to work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after being named its acting director by President Trump, who had removed Biden appointee Rohit Chopra. In an internal email, Bessent’s office directed CFPB staff to cease much of the bureau’s work, including on enforcement actions and decisions about active litigation. The email also instructs staff to suspend the effective dates for rules that had been completed but are not yet in effect.
Bessent’s appointment is the beginning of what is expected to be a rollback of many of the CFPB’s actions under the Biden administration, such as rules capping overdraft fees and banning the use of medical debt by credit-reporting companies.
Democrats have signaled their readiness to fight any new attempts to target the CFPB. ‘If President Trump and the Republicans decide they are just going to bend a knee to Wall Street billionaires and try to destroy that agency, they’re going to have a fight on their hands,’ Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, said in a video posted to X.
– The WSJ reported that, according to a new study from climate-research company First Street, climate change will cause a $1.47 tn decline in US home values by 2055. Rising home-insurance costs and more homeowners avoiding some risky areas will drive these declines, First Street said. The study is an effort to quantify the economic risk that weather events such as hurricanes, drought and heat waves pose to many Americans’ biggest financial asset – their homes. Thousands of displaced people are currently dealing with the effects of recent natural disasters including this year’s wildfires in Los Angeles and hurricanes that hit the Southeast last fall.
– CNBC reported that Amazon is set to face legal action from a Canadian union after the company’s decision to close warehouse operations in Quebec. The Federation of National Trade Unions (CSN) said it plans to petition a court to order Amazon to reopen seven warehouses and restore the 1,700 jobs lost as a result of the closures.
Amazon announced in late January that it would phase out seven sites in Quebec ‘following a recent review’ of its operations in the province, which is the only location in Canada with unionized Amazon employees. The company said it would return to a third-party delivery model. The CSN estimates that roughly 4,500 jobs were cut by Amazon and its subcontractors as a result of the closures.
‘Amazon thinks it can just shift the work to other corporate entities and outsource some warehousing and delivery operations,’ CSN president Caroline Senneville said in a statement. ‘What it calls the ‘new business model’ is just an attempt to circumvent its obligations under the Labour Code.’
An Amazon spokesperson said reverting to a third-party delivery model, which it used in Quebec before 2020, will allow the company to ‘provide the same great service and even more savings to our customers over the long run.’ The spokesperson added: ‘In making this decision, we’ve complied and will continue to comply with all the applicable federal and provincial laws.’
– CNBC reported that Match Group said Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff will be its new CEO. Rascoff, who has been a member of the online dating company’s board since March 2024, will replace Bernard Kim in the role, Match said. ‘During his time on the board, Spencer has demonstrated a strong strategic perspective and deep understanding of Match Group’s brands and opportunities,’ Match Group chair Tom McInerney said in a statement. ‘We are confident in his ability to drive the company’s next phase of innovation and growth.’
– The Guardian reported that Gwynne Wilcox, a former member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), sued Trump over her recent firing, describing it as an ‘unprecedented and illegal’ attempt to strip the agency of its independence. Wilcox said her removal from the NLRB was a ‘blatant violation’ of the National Labor Relations Act in a lawsuit against the president and Marvin Kaplan, whom Trump installed to chair the board.
Wilcox’s departure left the board with only two members, short of the quorum of three the NLRB needs to issue significant decisions on US labor disputes. She is seeking an injunction for her immediate reinstatement so the NLRB can continue functioning as a congressionally mandated independent agency.
Wilcox was dismissed for a ‘blatantly political purpose that flies in the face of the NLRB’s independent status,’ the filing states, noting that the president failed to cite examples of ‘neglect of duty or malfeasance in office’ as required when firing the agency’s board members.
The White House claimed her removal and those of the NLRB general counsel were because ‘these were far-left appointees with radical records of upending longstanding labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump administration.’
– The Associated Press reported that Honeywell, one of the last remaining US industrial conglomerates, will split into three independent companies. Honeywell said it will separate from its automation and aerospace technologies businesses. Including plans announced previously to spin off its advanced materials business, Honeywell will consist of three smaller entities with the aim of each being more agile.
‘The formation of three independent, industry-leading companies builds on the powerful foundation we have created, positioning each to pursue tailored growth strategies and unlock significant value for shareholders and customers,’ Honeywell chair and CEO Vimal Kapur said in a statement.
– Google is dropping its goal of hiring more employees from historically underrepresented groups and reviewing some diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) programs, according to the WSJ. In an email to employees, Google said it would no longer set hiring targets to improve representation in its workforce.
In 2020, amid calls for racial justice following the police killing of George Floyd, Google set a target of increasing by 30 percent the proportion of ‘leadership representation of underrepresented groups’ by 2025. Parent company Alphabet’s annual report released on Wednesday omitted a sentence stating the company was ‘committed to making [DE&I] part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve.’ The sentence was in its reports from 2021 through 2024.
Google’s 2024 diversity report said 5.7 percent of its US employees were black and 7.5 percent were Latino. Four years earlier, those figures were 3.7 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.
Google said it was evaluating whether to continue releasing annual diversity reports, which it has done since 2014. The evaluation is part of a broader review of DE&I-related grants, training and initiatives, including those that the company email said ‘raise risk, or that aren’t as impactful as we’d hoped.’
Google also said it was reviewing recent court decisions and executive orders by Trump aimed at removing DE&I efforts in the government and federal contractors. The company is ‘evaluating changes to our programs required to comply,’ the email said.
– Reuters reported that, according to a study by Georgeson, the number of Australian companies facing investor opposition over remuneration plans held near record levels for a second year in 2024. The study underscores not only frustration with high executive pay at a time when the cost of living has risen but also anger over corporate scandals. Forty of Australia's 300 biggest companies had more than a quarter of investors vote against their executive compensation plan at their AGM last year. That was just under a record 41 the previous year, which was double the amount in 2022, the study found.
– According to CNBC, Salesforce said former Gilead Sciences CFO Robin Washington will join the software company to become president and chief financial and operating officer. Washington will join Salesforce in March, replacing CFO Amy Weaver and COO chief Brian Millham, who will retire in May.
Washington has been Salesforce’s lead independent director since 2022, having taken a seat on its board in 2013. In 2019, she retired from Gilead and became a director at Alphabet. She will remain on Salesforce’s board and Arnold Donald, a former Carnival CEO who has been on Salesforce’s board since 2023, will become lead independent director.
Ben Maiden
Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Governance Intelligence, an IR Media publication, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. Ben was previously managing editor of Compliance Reporter, covering regulatory and compliance...
