Global business
After years of delay and an often tetchy debate between Wall Street and America's regulators, the "Volcker rule" at last came into effect. Named after Paul Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the rule stops big banks from engaging in certain kinds of risky speculative bets, activities that produced handsome profits for some before the financial crash. Most banks have cut back their investment activities to take account of the rule.
The Federal Reserve finalized its new requirements for the amount of additional capital that America's "most systemically important" banks will have to hold to protect against losses. JPMorgan Chase had its minimum capital requirement raised by 4.5 percent of assets, more than any of the seven other banks that the regulation applies to.
Gold prices dropped to a five-year low of around $1,090 per troy ounce, partly in reaction to the Fed repeating that it is on course to raise interest rates this year. The news that China's central bank, which wants to boost the yuan as a trading currency, had made much smaller purchases of gold reserves than had been thought was also a factor.
Lockheed Martin agreed to buy Sikorsky, which makes the Black Hawk helicopter for the American army, from United Technologies in a $9 billion deal. It is Lockheed's biggest acquisition since 1996.
Sony announced plans to start a new business using drones for a variety of services. The announcement came a few days after the first government-approved delivery by drone, of medicine to a clinic in Virginia, took place in the U.S. But the pace at which the technology is being adopted by unregulated hobbyists is worrying some.
An independent committee found that Toshiba had overstated profits by $1.2 billion over seven years, in one of the biggest accounting scandals to hit Japan's corporate world in years. Hisao Tanaka stepped down as chief executive of the electronics and nuclear-power group after the panel's report described the problems as "systemic." Half of the board's 16 members also resigned.
Maurice Obstfeld was appointed the IMF's new chief economist. He will succeed Olivier Blanchard in September. Born in New York, Obstfeld is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and sits on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.
The British government told Martin Wheatley it would not renew his contract as head of the Financial Conduct Authority. Wheatley said he was disappointed, as he had "unfinished business" still to do. The FCA has taken a tough approach toward wrongdoing in the city, but with the scandals in banking receding, the government is now hinting at a lighter regulatory touch.
