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Good morning. I'm Kaja Whitehouse and I'm filling in for Aaron Weinman. The mood on Wall Street, and financial hubs across the globe, is somber this morning following the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot while giving a speech at a campaign event in Nara, western Japan.
In today's newsletter, we are also looking at a story from Chicago, where three JPMorgan traders are standing trial over an alleged scheme to manipulate gold and other precious metal prices.
We will explore why that trial is relevant to today's Wall Street (even though it dates back to 2019) — and introduce readers to the 10 members of Congress who really dislike the financial industry's hottest new trend: ESG investing.
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1. It's all about the messages. At the heart of the government's metals rigging case against three former JPMorgan traders will be a slew of internal bank chat logs that the prosecution will use as evidence. According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan has been fighting to keep some internal communications out of the trial, including messages involving current executives.
For Wall Street bankers and traders, it's just the latest reminder that what they say to colleagues and clients is never private. Bankers who take to unauthorized apps like WhatsApp to conduct business stand to lose their jobs, even if no inappropriate messages were found.
It's part of a larger government crackdown that has rattled financial industry pros whose clients often prefer WhatsApp and SMS to email. It's also putting some employees at odds with their employers as banks, JPMorgan, do whatever it takes to keep tabs on their workers.
As Insider has previously reported, Wall Street's monitoring has some employees spooked. But banks appear to be doubling down nonetheless.
In other news:
2. ESG's newest enemy works for Congress. Funds that invest with environmental, social, and governance considerations in mind are coming under attack from a group of Republican lawmakers, one of whom called ESG investing "a scam." Insider's Rebecca Ungarino breaks down who they are and what they want.
3. Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter in 'peril'. Advisors to the Tesla CEO have concluded that Twitter's figures on spam accounts are unverifiable, the Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, the billionaire has stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding for the $44 billion deal, including with a likely backer, WaPo said, citing anonymous sources.