World News

MOSCOW — A group of weary-looking Indian men carrying sports bags queued at passport control at a busy Moscow airport one recent evening after flying over 2,700 miles — and via Uzbekistan — to get work.

“I have a contract for one year. In the rubbish disposal business. The money is good,” said Ajit, one of the men, speaking in English.

Faced with what the authorities say is an immediate shortage of at least 2.3 million workers, a shortfall exacerbated by the strain of Russia’s war in Ukraine and one that Russia’s traditional source of foreign labor — Central Asians — is not able to fill, Moscow is turning to a new supplier: India.

INDIAN INFLUX HELPS RUSSIA MAKE UP LABOR SHORTFALL
In 2021, a year before Russia sent its troops into Ukraine, some 5,000 work permits were approved for Indian nationals. Last year, almost 72,000 permits were okayed for Indians — nearly a third of the total annual quota for migrant workers on visas.

“Currently, expatriate employees from India are the most popular,” said Alexei Filipenkov, director of a company that brings in Indian workers.

He said workers from ex-Soviet Central Asia, who do not need visas, had stopped coming in sufficient numbers. Official figures show they still made up the majority of some 2.3 million legal foreign workers not requiring a visa last year, however.

But a weaker ruble, tougher migration laws, and increasingly sharp anti-immigrant rhetoric from Russian politicians have eroded their numbers and encouraged Moscow to boost visa quotas for workers from elsewhere.

The choice of India for unskilled labor reflects strong defense and economic ties between Moscow and New Delhi.

India has been buying discounted Russian oil that Moscow — due to Western sanctions — cannot easily sell elsewhere, although that may now be in question.

President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a deal in December to make it easier for Indians to work in Russia. Denis Manturov, Russia’s first deputy prime minister, said at the time that Russia could accept an “unlimited number” of Indian workers.

At least 800,000 people were needed in manufacturing, and another 1.5 million in the service and construction sectors, he said.

INDIANS WORKING IN RUSSIAN FACTORIES AND FARMS
Brera Intex, a Moscow textiles company, has hired around 10 workers from South Asia, including Indians, to make curtains and bed linen.

Sat at a sewing machine, 23-year-old Gaurav from India said he had been working in Russia for three months.

“I was told to come (over) to this side, that the work and money are good,” he said. “Russian life is very good.”

Married with two children, he said he spoke to his family back in India by phone every day and told them he missed them.

Olga Lugovskaya, the company’s owner, said the workers — with the help of samples and supervision — had picked up the work in time and were highly motivated.

“Some of the guys who came in didn’t even know how to switch on a sewing machine,” she said. “(But) after two or three months, you could already trust them to sew a proper finished item.”

Outside Moscow, the Sergiyevsky farm relies on Indian workers too, using them to process and pack vegetables for an average salary of about 50,000 rubles ($660) per month, a salary for which the farm says locals will not work.

“I have been working here, at Sergiyevsky, for one year,” said Sahil, 23, who said he was from India’s Punjab region.

“In India there is little money, but here there is a lot of money. The work is here.”

US pressure on India to halt its purchases of Russian oil — something President Donald J. Trump has linked to a trade deal between the United States and India announced this month — could yet dampen Moscow’s appetite for Indian workers.

But for now, it’s unclear how New Delhi will recalibrate its oil purchases, and Moscow has played down any suggestion of tensions. — Reuters

Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa on Monday said that the agency is already working with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to include liver transplants in the Z Benefits package, as the procedure has become cheaper through a public-private partnership.

Mr. Herbosa said that the joint liver transplant program between The Medical City (TMC) and Rizal Medical Center (RMC), which marked its first anniversary, has cut liver transplant costs by half.

From around P5 million for the procedure at TMC prior to the partnership, the cost has been reduced to around P2.4 million, close to the estimated P2.1 million cost of the procedure in India, excluding travel expenses.

Following this, Mr. Herbosa said it already “makes no sense” to send children in need of transplants to India, urging that the procedure be done in the country instead.

“I will fully support that they be done in the Philippines… As for the PhilHealth Z Benefits, we’re now working with Dr. Edwin M. Mercado, president of PhilHealth,” Mr. Herbosa said in his keynote speech during the program’s anniversary media conference.

The health chief said that the Z Benefits package, PhilHealth’s financial coverage for catastrophic illnesses, for the transplant could reach around P2 million, including immunosuppression medication for kidney transplant patients, which costs around P40,000 a month.

“So we can actually take care of that. I think the money of PhilHealth can cover that,” Mr. Herbosa said.

With the inclusion of liver transplants in the PhilHealth Z Benefits package, he said around 144 patients with biliary atresia — a rare liver disease among infants — could benefit.

Dr. Maria Rica M. Lumague, Medical Center Chief II of Rizal Medical Center, welcomed the proposal, saying that the P2 million coverage is a good start, noting that PhilHealth currently covers only around P50,000 for hepatectomy, or the removal of a portion of the donor’s liver.

“Of course, higher will be better, but to start at P2 million is not bad,” Ms. Lumague told reporters on the sidelines of the media conference.

“With the help and endorsement of Secretary Ted, we hope it’s going to be a reality in the future,” she added.

Meanwhile, TMC said that the joint liver transplant program, formalized through a memorandum of agreement in January 2025, has successfully performed liver transplants on a total of four patients, all of whom are children.

Moving forward, TMC aims to conduct more liver transplants by expanding its facilities and training a new generation of surgeons. — Edg Adrian A. Eva

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) said that some teachers are allegedly being “forced” to participate as tutors and contribute funds following the rollout of the Summer Remediation Program (SRP) under the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program.

“We received reports that teachers are really being forced to volunteer,” TDC National Chairperson Benjo G. Basas said in Filipino in a statement yesterday.

“Some reports also stated that those who did not volunteer are still required to report to school, and even contribute money to pay the salary of the external tutor,” he added.

The SRP aims to help learners from Grades 2 to 11 achieve grade-level proficiency in reading and mathematics. A network of tutors, such as teachers, para-teachers, pre-service teachers, and qualified volunteers, is set to deliver targeted interventions for students.

Under the 2026 budget, the Department of Education (DepEd) allocated P9 billion for the ARAL program, and is expected to hire about 448,000 tutors nationwide.

However, based on TDC’s initial survey, many teachers raised concerns about the “non-voluntary nature” of the program and questioned the absence of funding for external tutors.

“The regular teaching load is already burdensome, and yet they would still add this ARAL program that’s supposed to have a budget for external tutors,” Mr. Basas said.

“They are still expecting the tired teachers to carry the burden, so where did or where would the budget for the program go?” he added.

TDC also flagged the low turnout of students for the summer remediation classes, which may “foreshadow similar implementation problems” once the ARAL program rolls out during regular school days.

“If we can’t implement it properly, it may be best to pause, review the problems encountered, and provide solutions for them before proceeding,” Mr. Basas said.

“Otherwise, the money, time, and effort of everyone may go to waste because of a program that cannot be properly carried out,” he added.

Mr. Basas noted that the ARAL program is a “band-aid solution” for the education sector’s long-term problems, such as a lack of classrooms, books, and teachers’ support. “If all of these are addressed, there clearly won’t be a need for remediation.”

The SRP, which runs from May 6 to Jun. 2, 2026, targets to support 2.7 million learners nationwide. — Almira Louise S. Martinez

SYDNEY — Australia’s national parliament will cut short its summer break to pass laws tackling hate speech after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, as concerns were also expressed over free speech.

The December 14 shooting in Sydney that killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group.

The federal parliament will return next Monday, and Mr. Albanese said he wanted legislation to step up penalties for hate speech and authorize a gun buyback to pass the following day.

Australians were entitled to express different views about the Middle East, he told reporters in Canberra.

“What they are not entitled to do, is to hold someone to account for the actions of others because they are a young boy wearing a school uniform going to a Jewish school or a young woman wearing a hijab,” he said.

The proposed laws will also ease visa denials on the ground of racial bigotry, and lower the threshold for banning hate organizations including neo-Nazi groups, officials said.

ALBANESE FACED CRITICISM FROM JEWISH GROUPS, ISRAEL
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Mr. Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.

Last week, Mr. Albanese said a Royal Commission would consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia.

A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author.

The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue her program at this unprecedented time, so soon after Bondi”.

A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Ms. Abdel-Fattah responded criticizing the move as “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship”.

Around 100 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, local media reported.

The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision. Three board members and the chairperson had resigned.

MOST POPULOUS STATE ADOPTS TOUGHER RULES
New South Wales state premier Chris Minns unveiled new rules on Monday that allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls and impose bigger fines, as part of measures to curb “hate preachers”.

Mr. Minns said the move was prompted by the difficulty in closing a Muslim prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.

The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield, which has a large Muslim community, said councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.

“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.— Reuters

PARIS — Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be put behind bars on Tuesday, starting a five-year sentence for conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya, in a stunning downfall for a leader once known for his swagger and taste for the global spotlight.

Sarkozy, who was the conservative president of France between 2007 and 2012, will become the first former French leader to be jailed since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain after World War Two.

“I’m not afraid of prison. I’ll keep my head held high, including at the prison gates,” Sarkozy told La Tribune Dimanche newspaper ahead of his incarceration.

ACCESS TO TV, LANDLINE AND PRIVATE SHOWER
The conviction caps years of legal battles over allegations that his 2007 campaign took millions in cash from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later overthrown and killed during the Arab Spring uprisings.

While Sarkozy was found guilty of conspiring with close aides to orchestrate the scheme, he was acquitted of personally receiving or using the funds.

He has consistently denied wrongdoing and called the case politically motivated, saying judges were seeking to humiliate him. He has appealed, but the nature of his sentence means he must go to jail as his appeal process plays out.

The former president has already been convicted in a separate corruption case, in which he was found guilty of trying to obtain confidential information from a judge in return for career favors, serving that sentence by wearing an electronic tag around the ankle.

At La Santé prison in Paris, which in the past has housed leftist militant Carlos the Jackal and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, Sarkozy will likely be held in the isolation unit, where inmates are housed in single cells and kept apart during outdoor activities for security reasons.

Conditions are similar to the rest of the prison: cells measure 9 to 12 square meters and, following renovations, now include private showers.

Sarkozy will have access to a television – for a monthly fee of 14 euros ($16) – and a landline telephone.

“THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO” ON READING LIST
Sarkozy told Le Figaro he would take three books for his first week behind bars, including Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo” – the story of a man unjustly imprisoned who plots his revenge against those who betrayed him.

The decision to jail a former president has sparked outrage among Sarkozy’s political allies and the far right.

However, the ruling reflects a shift in France’s approach to white-collar crime, following reforms introduced under a previous Socialist government. In the 1990s and 2000s, many convicted politicians avoided prison altogether.

To counter perceptions of impunity, French judges are increasingly issuing “provisional execution” orders – requiring sentences to begin immediately, even as appeals are pending – legal experts and politicians told Reuters.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been banned from running for office under the same “provisional execution” provision, pending an appeal early next year.

According to an October 1 Elabe poll for BFM TV, 58% of French respondents believe the verdict was impartial, and 61% support the decision to send Sarkozy to jail without waiting for the appeal.

President Emmanuel Macron, who had warm relations with Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, said on Monday he had met Sarkozy ahead of his incarceration.— Reuters

The head of Belarus’s security agency said his institution was trying to build contacts with Ukraine to help achieve a settlement of its more than 3-1/2-year-old war with Russia, the country’s state news agency reported on Sunday.

Ivan Tertel’s comments to state television followed reports last week that a senior Belarusian diplomat had held meetings with Europeans to try to ease the isolation long imposed on his country, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tertel, whose remarks were reported by the Belta news agency, said meetings with Ukrainian officials were vital “in the current situation in order to come up with a consensus”.

“This work is also going on. Of course, a lot here depends on the Ukrainian side. Our president is working as much as he can to stabilize the situation in the region,” said Tertel, whose agency still uses its Soviet-era acronym KGB.

“And we have found a balance of the two sides’ interests in this very complicated situation with a tendency towards tension. I am convinced that we can eliminate this situation only through quiet talks and the search for compromise.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to use his country’s territory to launch part of the 2022 war with Ukraine, but has kept his armed forces out of the conflict.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has long been shunned by the West on grounds of human rights violations. Punitive measures intensified after security forces crushed rallies by protesters accusing the president of rigging his 2020 re-election and again because of his support for the invasion.

But US President Donald Trump has appealed to Lukashenko in recent months, calling him a “highly respected leader” and sending an envoy to Minsk, which led to the release of more than 50 political prisoners.

Belarusian media quoted Lukashenko last month as saying that he wanted to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to help facilitate a settlement of the war.— Reuters

WASHINGTON – The US budget deficit shrank by $41 billion to $1.775 trillion in the 2025 fiscal year as an increase in revenue from President Donald Trump’s tariffs and cuts to education spending helped offset higher outlays on healthcare and retirement programs and interest on the debt, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

The results for the year ended September 30, which include nearly nine months of Trump’s second term in the White House, compared to a $1.817 trillion deficit in fiscal 2024. It was the first time the annual deficit had fallen since 2022, when the unwinding of COVID-19 relief programs brought spending down.

The smaller deficit was aided by a record $195 billion in net customs receipts for the fiscal year, an increase of $118 billion from the prior year as new Trump tariffs rolled in.

Customs receipts in September reached a new record high of $29.7 billion, but the pace of increase slowed from August, when $29.5 billion was collected. Customs receipts were $7.3 billion in September 2024.

But this powerful new revenue source was partly offset by a $79 billion reduction in gross corporate tax collections for fiscal 2025, to $486 billion. About $45 billion of that reduction occurred in September, reflecting implementation of full capital equipment expensing and research deductions made retroactive to January 1 in the spending and tax-cut bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in July.

Total receipts for fiscal 2025 were a record $5.235 trillion, up $317 billion, or 6%, from fiscal 2024, largely driven by increases in withheld and non-withheld individual tax collections.

Fiscal 2025 outlays also were a record at $7.01 trillion, up $275 billion, or 4%, from the prior year.

A US Treasury official said the department calculated an estimated deficit-to-GDP ratio of 5.9% for fiscal 2025, compared to an actual fiscal 2024 ratio of 6.3%. The official declined to say what GDP estimate was used to calculate the ratio. Data on third-quarter GDP, which would be close out the 2025 fiscal year, has been delayed by the partial US government shutdown.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that he wants to bring the ratio down to the 3% range by boosting economic growth and cutting or constraining spending.

Budget analysts said the number released on Thursday showed little progress toward that goal.

“Most of the fiscal policy changes are simply replacing tax revenue and spending with other sources without lowering the deficit,” said Kent Smetters, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis group. “So, we are still very much on an unsustainable path.”

TREASURY REPORTS SURPLUS FOR SEPTEMBER
For the 2025 fiscal year’s final month of September, the Treasury reported a record surplus of $198 billion, up $118 billion, or 147%, from the same month in the prior year. September is often a month of surplus due to quarterly tax filing deadlines for companies and individuals.

Receipts last month were up $17 billion, or 3%, to $544 billion, while outlays were down $101 billion, or 23%, to $346 billion.

The latest monthly surplus was boosted by a $131 billion cut to the Department of Education budget that was mandated in the recent spending and tax bill. For September, the education outlays were $123 billion lower than in September 2024.

For the full 2025 fiscal year, the Department of Education suffered the biggest cut in outlays, down $233 billion, or 87% from the prior year to just $35 billion.

That cut and the higher customs receipts masked continued increases in outlays for the Social Security retirement plan, the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs and interest on the US federal debt.

The interest expenditure reached a record $1.216 trillion for the full fiscal year, up $83 billion, or 7%, from fiscal 2024, making it the second-largest expenditure item after Social Security. Expenses for that program reached $1.647 trillion, up $127 billion, or 8%, from the prior fiscal year.

“There’s good news that the tariffs are generating higher revenue, but all major categories of spending are higher with mandatory spending and interest significantly so. The fundamentals remain deeply troubling,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. — Reuters

PARIS – Hours after his latest prime minister was forced to resign — unable to form a cabinet that lasted more than a day — French President Emmanuel Macron was spotted walking alone by the Seine in the chilly autumn morning.

Bodyguards kept their distance ahead and behind as he wandered out through a wrought iron gate onto the stone embankment in a black overcoat.

The scene, captured from afar on video and shown on French TV, evoked images of Charles de Gaulle seeking solace in the wind-swept plains of Ireland after his resignation in the late 1960s — a leader retreating inward as his political era drew to a close.

Macron is president until 2027, but the resignation of Sebastien Lecornu, his fifth prime minister in two years, has raised the chances that the one-time golden boy of French politics fails to make it to the end of his final term.

Macron appeared determined to avoid that fate on Monday, giving Lecornu two days for last-ditch talks with the opposition to try to chart a path out of the morass.

By asking Lecornu to give it one last shot, Macron signalled his distaste for the only other options he faces – fresh parliamentary elections that could hand power to the far right, or his own resignation, a measure he has repeatedly ruled out.

As his options have narrowed, the unpopular Macron has become increasingly isolated domestically, watching erstwhile allies distance themselves as they seek to bolster their own chances of succeeding him in the 2027 election.

Nearly half of French people blame Macron for the current crisis, while 51% of them believe his resignation could break the stalemate, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV on Monday.

“Macron now finds himself isolated, without direction or support. He must draw the consequences: either resignation or dissolution,” far-right National Rally lawmaker Philippe Ballard posted on X.

FAILED 2024 ELECTION DECISION SPARKED ONGOING CRISIS
Since last year’s failed gamble to call a snap legislative vote, which produced a hung parliament split between three ideologically opposed blocs, Macron has tried to muddle through with minority cabinets.

Determined to preserve his economic legacy of tax cuts and a pension overhaul at a time of growing investor concern about France’s yawning deficit, Macron has appointed premiers from an ad-hoc alliance of conservatives and centrists.

For over a year, these governments struggled to pass deficit-reduction measures. Two prime ministers fell over their inability to fix public finances, but the so-called socle commun — or “common platform” — endured.

That changed with the dramatic rebellion of Bruno Retailleau, the conservatives’ most high-profile figure, who late on Sunday publicly criticised Lecornu’s cabinet hours after it was named.

Macron is hoping Lecornu can lure back the conservatives to the table, giving him a lifeline. If not, he could appoint a left-leaning prime minister, but the Socialists’ insistence on a wealth tax and reversing the pension reform makes them a hard sell for other parties.

PRESSURE ON MACRON NOT GOING AWAY
Despite Monday’s appeal to Lecornu, the pressure on Macron is unlikely to let up.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally (RN)quickly called for a dissolution of parliament and new elections. Polls show her party leads voting intentions.

“The RN benefits from the centre’s collapse and picks up protest votes, seeing dissolution as a unique opportunity to finally govern,” said political analyst Stewart Chau.

Calls for Macron’s resignation, once confined to the fringes, are now entering the mainstream.

“France’s national interest demands that Emmanuel Macron set a date for his resignation, in order to preserve the institutions and unblock a situation that has been unavoidable since the absurd dissolution,” said David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes and a rising conservative figure, on social media.

Macron has repeatedly said he intends to serve out his full term. But faced with few palatable options, he may yet choose to end his presidency with a dramatic gesture — just like de Gaulle, who stepped down in 1969. — Reuters

WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump’s regulators revamp bank rules, big lenders expect their capital requirements could fall, in a stunning victory for the industry which faced a big hike under former President Joe Biden, according to senior industry executives.

Aiming to cut red tape that Trump’s agency picks say is hurting the US economy, they are working on the most sweeping overhaul of US capital rules since the global financial crisis of 2008.

In addition to narrowing the “Basel Endgame” capital hikes which sparked unprecedented pushback from Wall Street banks, the Fed plans to reduce a capital surcharge levied on risky global banks, shrink a key leverage constraint, and overhaul annual tests that gauge whether lenders can withstand an economic shock.

The country’s largest lenders, which have lobbied hard for the long-sought review, are optimistic that the changes combined will result in their capital levels remaining flat or falling, said six industry and regulatory sources, including three top bankers.

That expected outcome, reported here for the first time, marks a dramatic turnaround for the industry which faced a 19% hike in 2023 under the draft Basel capital rules which proposed changes to how big banks gauge lending and trading risks.

While the Fed last September said that hike would be halved, the plan was never finalized and died with Trump’s election.

Big banks have long complained that capital rules are excessive and poorly calibrated, and that some of that cash could better serve the economy through lending. They also argue that they weathered the COVID-19 economic shock just fine.

Critics say efforts to chip away at the capital regime are dangerous, and could leave the industry vulnerable at a time when the outlook for the US economy is growing cloudy.

With big banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup together holding around $1 trillion in capital, even a small dip could free up billions of dollars for lending, trading, dividends and share buybacks.

“You’re going to see here the most aggressive streamlining or easing of bank regulations that we’ve seen certainly since Dodd-Frank and probably sometime before that,” said Ian Katz, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners, referring to the landmark 2010 post-crisis law that overhauled bank rules.

A Fed spokesperson declined to comment. The Fed’s new regulatory chief, Michelle Bowman, said last week that she wants the rules to “work well together” and did not necessarily expect capital to fall. Regulators will unveil a new Basel draft by early 2026, she added.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which are also working on the Basel draft, also declined to comment.

“America’s largest banks are the strongest in the world,” said Amanda Eversole, CEO of the Financial Services Forum which represents the country’s eight biggest banks. “Modernizing capital rules will let them put that strength to work – fueling growth for consumers, small businesses, and the economy.”

‘EXTREMELY CONSEQUENTIAL’
The sources, who declined to be identified discussing confidential regulatory issues, said they expect the new Basel draft to be broadly “capital-neutral” at a minimum. That means it would neither increase nor decrease system-wide capital, but change how it is distributed.

Trump’s pick for FDIC chair, Travis Hill, in January said “roughly” capital-neutral would be a “prudent starting point.”

To get there, regulators are expected to abandon a “dual stack” that would have required banks to comply with the stricter of two methods for measuring their risk capital which penalized banks with large trading businesses, and to ease a requirement to put capital aside for operational risks, like cyberattacks or lawsuits, two of the people said.

Capital reductions could then come as the Fed updates the “GSIB” surcharge to better account for economic growth, and as regulators tailor the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio, a risk-blind capital safety net, to each individual bank, three of the sources said.

After the industry sued the Fed in December, the central bank is also working to make its stress tests, which partly determine big lenders’ capital buffers, more transparent, likely helping them to optimize their results.

Two of the sources cautioned, however, that the regulatory discussions are ongoing and that Democrats on the Fed board may oppose changes that are too favorable to the industry.

Based on an analysis of industry materials, Washington-based group Better Markets, which advocates for tougher financial rules, estimates that banking system capital could fall by $200 billion if the industry secures all the relief it has been pushing for.

“It’s huge and extremely consequential,” said Phillip Basil, director of economic growth and financial stability at Better Markets. “It’s going to take a lot less to bring down a big bank.” — Reuters US