Financial Daily Dose 1.19.2021 | Top Story: Fiat Chrysler and PSA Group Finalize Merger to Form Auto Behemoth Stellantis NV

Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group completed their mega-auto-merger first agreed-to in late 2019, “creating Stellantis NV, a global auto-making giant that executives say will have the heft needed to compete in the fast-changing industry” - WSJ and Bloomberg

Big Stell’s deal-itch may not be scratched yet, either - Bloomberg

The Treasury Department’s FinCEN arm has reached a deal with Capital One in which the bank will pay $290 million for “’willfully failing to implement and maintain’ effective anti-money laundering controls,” including failing to “file thousands of suspicious-activity reports” - WSJ and Law360

Speaking of Treasury, nominee Janet Yellen—no stranger to a hot seat on the Hill—begins confirmation hearings this morning and will be charged with not only selling herself but also the incoming administrations $1.9 trillion economic recovery plan - Bloomberg and NYTimes and WSJ

Consumer groups in Europe and the U.S. are taking issue with the cancellation process for Amazon’s Prime digital subscription service, a “multi-click” ordeal that the consumer groups say “manipulates users into sticking with paid memberships,” and they’re starting to test those allegations in court - NYTimes

For their part, regulators have their own sights set on another segment of the pandemic-driven economy—food-delivery services. In particular, they’re starting to focus on the “potentially unfair practices of food-delivery platforms, including ‘excessive fees and commissions’” - WSJ

Samsung scion and “chief of the sprawling . . . conglomerate” Lee Jae-yong is back in the clink over allegations that he bribed ousted South Korean president Park Gyun-hye in the mid-2010s. The “new sentence deals a blow to Samsung, a corporate leviathan that touches many aspects of South Korean life” - NYTimes and WSJ

The Times takes us behind the scenes with Jack & friends as they debated Twitter’s big move last week to ban the Tweeter In Chief from the platform - NYTimes

President-elect Biden’s faced down a massive economic crisis before, though doing so while in the #2 spot 12 years ago. His recently revealed $1.9 trillion economic rescue package show how he and his team both tailored its response to the virus that caused the downturn and learned from the last go-around - NYTimes and MarketWatch

As if Boeing didn’t have enough going on with its commercial aircraft, the Journal reminds us that the company’s “once-dominant space program . . . has also struggled”—“dogged by faulty designs, software errors and chronic cost overruns” - WSJ

Recapping the recent SCOTUS oral argument in AMG v. Federal Trade Commission, during which Justices asked “tough questions of both sides” but appear poised to strip the FTC of its ability to pursue restitution and disgorgement—“two of its most important and effective enforcement tools” – Law360

A bit more on what Biden-pick Gary Gensler at the helm of the SEC could mean for Wall Street, with many insiders suggesting that Gensler “would likely be the most active, pro-regulatory SEC chairman since William Donaldson ran the agency in the wake of the corporate scandals of the early 2000s” - WSJ

Meanwhile, Biden will nominate FTC member Rohit Chopra to replace Kathy Kraninger as CFPB Director – Law360

The Upshot on some better ways to be thinking about the return of inflation,  especially when all of its buzz isn’t matching what’s playing out in the real economy - NYTimes

It’s only taken 100 years, but the Federal Reserve is waking up to its role in the struggle for “achieving true justice and equality” for all Americans. Better [woefully] late than never  - Bloomberg

Stay safe,
MDR