• Capital One HR exec Meghan Welch shared with Business Insider her best tip for getting a job at one of the biggest banks in the US.
• She said she is always impressed when candidates come in having already spoken with current Capital One employees.
• "There is nobody truer an ambassador for a company than the people who work there," she told Business Insider.

Getting hired is all about who you know.

It's an old cliché. But it's also true, in Capital One HR exec Meghan Welch's experience.

She said she's always impressed when applicants come in for interviews having already connected with other employees of the tenth biggest bank in the US.

"I love to know if folks that I'm interviewing know other people who work at Capital One," the bank's chief diversity and inclusion officer told Business Insider. "I think the very best indicator of why someone is applying for a role."

Welch, who has worked for the bank for 19 years, said interviews aren't just for recruiters to pepper applicants with questions. She said candidates should always extensively vet businesses during the hiring process, as well.

"We do a lot of interviews," she said. "There's a reason for that. It's as much for us to assess the talent coming in the door as it is to have them assessing us."

And part of that assessment should involve connecting with current employees.

Welch encourages candidates to reach out to Capital One employees by leveraging their networks or sending cold emails. That way, she said candidates can get a "true picture" of the company, its values, and its focus on the customer.

She added they'll also learn more about any potential downsides that could prevent a good fit.

"Employees probably know about the good and the bad," Welch said. "We don't all go home and say rosy things about our company ever single day. Everyone has a bad day."

So if you want a job at Capital One, Welch said it's important to find a way to contact a current employee and get the details on what it's like to work there.

"There is nobody truer an ambassador for a company than the people who work there," she said. "I love to interview folks who say, 'Yes I know a lot of people who work at Capital One.' I feel they truly know what they're getting into."

SEE ALSO: A Tesla recruiter shares the interview question few candidates get right

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NOW WATCH: Traders are betting that red-hot bank stocks will surge even more

Business Insider executive editor Sara Silverstein speaks to Lori Heinel, the deputy global chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors. Heinel says that she's not particularly worried about the Fed or Fed policy. She says that while global central bankers have tightened monetary conditions slightly, they've done so gradually, and with a great deal of signaling. Heinel does say, however, that a sudden increase in inflation could derail markets, because of how the Fed would have to react, as well as the effect on corporations. Ultimately, she thinks that as long as inflation expectations stay contained, there won't be too much of a problem.

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• Business Insider spoke to economist Garrick Hileman, from the University of Cambridge, about central banks experimenting with blockchain technology. 
• Hileman said an increasing number of central banks are looking to the system due to its resilience and transparency.
• He adds that although blockchain could become important as banks move away from physical currency, there are privacy issues with the technology.

Full transcript below. 

Garrick Hileman: Central banks, as our data shows, are actively testing blockchain technology for a variety of different use cases, everything from new central bank digital currencies, new payment systems, to records management – having some kind of audit trail for certain functions and so on.

There’s actually a long list of things central banks are looking at blockchains to do. There’s a number of advantages, potentially, to central banks by incorporating blockchains. Probably the most significant is the resilience of the blockchain technology. The fact that bitcoin has been operating for just about nine years now and has suffered not a nanosecond of downtime is quite compelling, I mean, not very many large IT systems today can claim the kind of uptime that bitcoin claims.

If you’re a central bank providing critical infrastructure – payment systems, thinking about maybe moving away from physical cash to a completely electronic money-based system, having a technology that is resilient and will have zero downtime is actually really important.

We can imagine the kind of chaos that would ensue if we moved to an electronic money system and that system went offline for any significant period of time - days, weeks or more. You would likely see pandemonium in the streets if people can’t make payments.

So, blockchain can be quite resilient, it can also be a way to create greater transparency into central banking, more credibility because of the rules a blockchain-based system enforces.

But there are a number of challenges too. There’s a concern around the lack of privacy, interestingly, of blockchain technology. Bitcoin’s famous for offering high levels of privacy, but actually blockchains leak data, leak information, it’s possible to figure out who’s doing what on a blockchain system because it’s a public record.

So the lack of privacy could be a concern and a hesitation for central banks thinking about blockchain technology.

Produced by Fraser Moore. Camera by Leon Siciliano.

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• President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is under investigation in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
• Now, Mueller is looking into whether Manafort agreed to let a Chicago banker bribe him in exchange for a spot in Trump's Cabinet, NBC News reported.
• The banker did not eventually get any such seat, but his bank reportedly made several suspect payments to Manafort between 2016 and 2017.
• At least one bank employee is cooperating with Mueller's team, according to NBC.

President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is reportedly under scrutiny for a suspected $16 million bribe from a banker who wanted to be on Trump's Cabinet.

NBC News reported Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller's latest focus is Manafort's possible involvement with Stephen Calk, the president of the Chicago-based Federal Savings Bank. Mueller's team has homed in on Manafort in the investigation into Russian meddling in the US presidential election and the Trump campaign's possible involvement.

The allegations that Mueller's team is looking into claim that Manafort promised Calk he would grant him a spot on Trump's cabinet if Calk gave Manafort $16 million in home loans for properties in New York City and the Hamptons.

Manafort did secure house loans from Calk's bank, according to a court filing released Friday from Mueller's team on Manafort's ongoing bail negotiations. That filing also foreshadowed Mueller would soon provide evidence on Manafort's "bank frauds and conspiracies."

Trump appointed Calk to his council of economic advisers in August 2016, but the banker never got a coveted Cabinet position.

At least one Federal Savings Bank employee is cooperating with the Mueller investigation, and several people at the bank felt pressured to approve the loans to Manafort despite questions about the payments' validity, according to NBC.

Mueller's team said in the court filings that it had "substantial evidence" that Manafort secured his house loans based on false representations.

Mueller also filed new charges against Manafort on Wednesday, and although their precise nature remains unknown, last Friday's filings indicated that the special counsel had uncovered "additional criminal conduct" related to bank fraud, according to Reuters.

Manafort is already facing charges of tax fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy

These new charges would be tacked on to the existing charges against him and his business partner Rick Gates that Mueller initially filed last year.

Those include tax fraud, money laundering, misleading foreign disclosure statements, and "conspiracy against the United States."

While Manafort is challenging the charges and has filed a lawsuit against Mueller, the Justice Department, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Gates is looking to plead guilty to the charges and cooperate with the Mueller investigation.

Manafort left Trump's campaign team in summer 2016 after news broke of his lobbying on behalf of the party of ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Manafort had been involved in a widespread lobbying campaign in the US on Yanukovych's behalf, and had also helped resurrect his pro-Russia party in Ukraine following the country's 2014 revolution. The firms he had been using in this campaign had not completed the proper filings to indicate they were acting on behalf of foreign governments.

Trump has since sought to distance himself from Manafort, despite his prominent position on his campaign.

"Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign," the president tweeted on October 30, 2017. "But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????"

A previous version of this article stated Mueller was facing charges relating to tax fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. This typo has been corrected to reflect that Manafort is the one facing these charges.

SEE ALSO: A court might hand Mueller a new asset in his quest to get Trump to testify

DON'T MISS: Robert Mueller has filed new charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates that are likely related to bank fraud

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• The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a 26 page report on domestic bank practices last week.
• The report shows that the retail banking culture encourages employees to sell products with little regard for the customer.
• That's especially the case when it comes to the current mobile mortgage model, according to the report.  

Bank executives are all of a sudden very vocal about foreign buyers. Strange timing, since a branch of the Government of Canada quietly dropped a report expressing concerns regarding the Big Six last week. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), the division in charge of protecting consumers from predatory conduct, released a 26 page report on domestic bank practices. The organization found that retail banking culture encourages employees to sell products, with little regard for the consumer. Even worse, they found that banks don’t have adequate measures in place to “monitor, identify and mitigate these risks.” It’s kind of a big deal, especially when you dig through the mortgage sections.

Disclaimer

First off, the FCAC is not addressing any alleged breaches of market conduct. If there were any, they have to be proven by a separate “track” of the FCAC, and they’ll enforce if required. The findings in the report represent observations, that provide an opportunity to present a problem. The FCAC wants to ensure you don’t think any specific banks are guilty of anything, although they never mention any banks by name… so you couldn’t identify them if you wanted to. You know, they’re just laying down a standard innocent until proven guilty intro. The kind you would hear before any Dick Wolf legal drama. Dun Dun.

Market Controls Are Insufficient At The Big Six

The report concludes that the Big Six banks are focusing on selling products, and incentivising employees to do so. The result is bank branches are now “stores,” dedicated to prioritizing sales over consumer interests. A sophisticated system has developed to reward employees for these sales, both financially and non-financially, potentially at the expense of the consumer. FCAC is also worried that the banking controls haven’t kept up with the change in the retail banking model, making them “insufficient” and prone to “mis-selling.”

For those that need a bureaucrat-to-English translation, they’re basically saying incentive to sell was greater than protecting consumers. While this is mildly annoying when it’s a credit card, or over priced chequing account, it has the potential to do some serious damage when it happens in what the FCAC calls “higher risk sales channels, practices and products.” Things like mortgages fall into this category, and make up a good chunk of the report. In particular, mobile mortgage specialists.

Mobile Mortgage Specialists and Variable Pay Models

Have you noticed an explosion in commercials, where the bank offers to send a mortgage specialist to pretty much anywhere you want to meet? These are called Mobile Mortgage Specialists (MMS), and according to FCAC, some banks “sell upwards of 90 percent of their mortgages through this channel.” Regulators found that all of the Big Six offer this service, and all use a 100-percent variable pay model.

A 100-percent variable pay model means the mortgage specialist only makes an income, if you borrow from them. For example, if the commission offered was 85 basis points, closing a million dollar mortgage lands a commission of $8,500. Some banks also up the commission if you sell past your target. You make no money if you don’t close a mortgage. You make mad cash for closing the largest mortgages you can, as quickly as possible. What could go wrong?

A lot. FCAC believes the current mobile mortgage model discourages these specialists from making “reasonable efforts” to assess consumer needs and financial goals. Selling products with higher commissions, larger mortgages than needed, or pushing to buy sooner “rather than encouraging a larger down payment” are all problems noted with the model. Specialists are motivated and incentivized to sell mortgages that yield higher commissions. You’re probably thinking, good thing banks have supervisors, right?

It’s Difficult To Enforce Appropriate Conduct

Turns out when mortgage specialists are meeting you at Starbucks or the Brass Rail, it’s difficult to supervise their conduct. According to the FCAC, “they [MMS] are expected to spend their time in the community developing business relationships with real estate agents, developers and others from whom they can earn mortgage referrals. This limits opportunities for direct supervision, observation of sales practices and coaching by managers.”

Let’s gloss over the fact that banks expect mortgage specialists to chill with other people who are also incentivised by maximizing consumer debt loads. Instead, let’s focus on the little opportunity for supervisors to monitor practices. The only way they would know anything was wrong is by consumer complaints, and default rates. Few people complain when they’re making money, so both are scarce while prices are rising. Default rates are always low during an up cycle as well, even when the buyer can no longer afford the home. These types of specialists haven’t been around long enough to witness a market down cycle.

Investigating poor conduct is also tricky, since these specialists are in high demand between the Big Six. FCAC notes, “The competitive market for the services of high-performing MMS can make it more difficult for banks to enforce codes of conduct and take disciplinary action.”

Did that just sound like they pick up and leave when a bank looks into them? Maybe we just misunderstood that statement, let’s dive deeper. According to the FCAC, “during the review, FCAC learned there have been cases of MMS leaving their employer before the bank could complete its investigation or take disciplinary action.” I guess we understood fine. Sounds like there have been investigations that end, just because the employee goes to work on the other side of Bay Street.

Canadian banks might be ticking all of the boxes, and vetting clients and offering the perfect product at the right time. They might be ensuring that consumer needs, and best interests are adequately taken care of. Or they might not. As the FCAC has pointed out, the current model, has inadequate measures to even monitor the issue. Claiming that all of these deals are adequately vetted is a guess at best.

Sorry to interrupt the narrative being crafted by bank executives right now. Let’s go back to them, and hear what they were saying. The correction is over, and foreign buyers are the biggest problem? We’re not talking about mobile mortgage specialists? Cool story, bros. 

SEE ALSO: NEB releases first-ever report on Canada's refining industry

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• Recent Chinese economic data has undershot expectations, leading to speculation that China’s central bank may take steps to support activity levels.
• RBC Capital Markets thinks the bank is likely to cut a critical ratio for Chinese lenders, which would be a loosening of monetary policy.
• In a working paper released on Tuesday, the People's Bank of China said the reserve requirement ratio should be cut to “ease burdens on financial institutions and smooth the interest rate transmission mechanism”, fuelling speculation that it could arrive imminently.

While financial markets have been focused on mounting trade tensions between the United States and China over the past week, thinks there may be a more pressing issue.

Lost in the trade war headlines, China’s latest batch of economic activity indicators were pretty weak in May.

Industrial output, retail sales and urban fixed asset investment growth all undershot market expectations by some margin, especially the latter two, which recorded the weakest annual growth in well over a decade.

After beating frequently in 2017 and in the early parts of this year, the spluttering performance has cast doubt over the outlook for the Chinese economy in the second half of the year.

Adding to concerns, in the same week that the US Federal Reserve lifted short-term borrowing costs, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) didn’t follow suit by hiking its key reverse repo rate (RRR), breaking with tradition following Fed policy tightening in the past.

To Su-Lin Ong, Chief Economist and Head of Australian Research at RBC Capital Markets, these developments are important.

“Downside risk to the stated 6.5% growth target for this year is emerging,” she said in note to clients.

“High frequency data in China have disappointed in recent months consistent with a loss of momentum evident in the easing in the PMI data, weaker activity proxies including retail sales and industrial production, and, abstracting from some volatility, static CPI.”

Given the recent substandard data, at least compared to China’s usual lofty standards, along with the reluctance from the PBoC to follow the Fed’s lead last week, Ong says it suggests that monetary conditions and credit are already tight, potentially signalling that Chinese policymakers may need to deliver additional monetary policy easing in an attempt to shore up economic growth.

“Our FX strategists note that the Chinese government has already been pulling on both monetary and fiscal levers to ease conditions in recent months [such as a] targeted reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cut to small businesses, an expansion of collateral products for borrowing, tax exemptions and accelerated fiscal expenditure under the directive of the Ministry of Finance,” she says.

“Accordingly, they expect a general RRR cut of at least 100 basis points sooner rather than later with the likelihood of several moves in the second half of the year.”

The RRR simply sets the minimum amount of customer deposits, expressed as a percentage, that each commercial bank must hold in reserves. By cutting the RRR for lenders, it releases money into China’s financial system.

Based on recent commentary from the PBoC, RBC’s FX strategists may well be right.

In a working paper released by the PBoC on Tuesday, it said the RRR should be cut to “ease burdens on financial institutions and smooth the interest rate transmission mechanism”.

“While financial market risks have been effectively released, banks’ capital adequacy and reserves face obvious constraints,” the paper said.

Should the recommendation from the bank be followed up by an actual cut to the RRR for lenders, Ong says it will likely help to support near-term growth to the detriment of longer-term financial stability concerns.

“We view further and more broad-based policy action in response to the moderation in Chinese activity and tighter conditions as likely to be positive for near-term growth although, consistent with past action of recent years, likely adds to the imbalances and medium risks around financial and macro stability,” she says.

“The trade-off between growth and reform has, almost always, firmly flavored growth in recent years with policy action taken to shore up activity, incomes and overall living standards.

“Accordingly, the leverage and debt continues to rise building greater macro and financial risks medium term.”

Trade tensions notwithstanding, the closer integration of China’s financial system with those of advanced economies, and the depth of the trade links between China and the rest of the world, has made Beijing’s maintenance of financial stability a top concern for policy-makers around the world.

In a speech last month, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe described the challenge facing Chinese policymakers as a “very significant task.”

“It is too early to tell whether the authorities will be successful in managing the transition from a growth model heavily dependent upon the accumulation of debt to one where credit is less central,” Lowe said.

“China’s challenge is made more complicated by the dual nature of the task to bring down debt levels while also reconfiguring the financial system so as to better meet the needs of the people. There are pressing needs to make financing more widely available to small and medium enterprises, to strengthen the pension system to bolster retirement incomes, to increase transparency and reduce implicit guarantees associated with local government and SOE borrowing.

“So there is still a lot to be done.”

Suggesting that speculation of RRR cut is gathering steam, Chinese stocks staged a dramatic turnaround on Wednesday, reversing losses of more than 1% in the second half of the session.

There’s likely to be plenty of eyes on the PBoC in the days ahead.

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• Swedish online bank Nordnet has fired its virtual assistant, Amelia.
• Used by dozens of major companies around the world, Amelia was developed by American AI company IPSoft.
• It appears Amelia just wasn't the right fit for Nordnet.

Leading Swedish online bank Nordnet is letting go of its AI co-worker Amelia as a result of underwhelming performance, according to Dagens Industri (Di).

When Nordnet launched it in 2017, Amelia's first task was to speed up the onboarding of new customers, and later, to improve customer satisfaction.

But it failed to do both, Nordnet states.

"We have tried it towards customers, and the response is ok but not overwhelming, so we are choosing to prioritise other things within our AI focus in the short run," said Nordnet's CEO Peter Dahlgren to Di.

IPSoft's AI system is ranked highest in the world

Nordnet's digital worker was launched through a partnership with American tech company IPSoft in 2017.

Amelia has been recognised among the world's best AI-systems, and is currently used by more than 50 major companies in industries ranging from healthcare to finance.

Another Swedish company using Amelia - with considerably more success - is Swedish bank SEB. Last year SEB won an AI industry award for its work to improve both external and internal operations through Amelia.

On its website, IPSoft states that Amelia requires extensive teaching from its partners. If the voice-tech enabled assistant "is unable to resolve an issue", she will "escalate the task to a human colleague" and then observe and learn from it.

But as far as Nordnet is concerned, Amelia wasn't the right fit. Nordnet CEO Peter Dahlgren pointed out that the company wasn't directly displeased with IPSoft, but that they are instead choosing to focus their efforts in other areas going forward.

One such area is the prediction of customer behaviour and preferences through AI: Nordnet is currently working on a Netflix-inspired service that could offer customers stocks to buy based on their previous purchases.

SEE ALSO: A robot that teaches kids to code was just crowned the best startup in Europe

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• Slack is planning an initial public offering in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Business Insider.
• The Journal described sources as saying the IPO would take place within the first two quarters of 2019 and value the company at about $7 billion.

Slack is planning to go public in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Business Insider.

The initial public offering is scheduled to take place by fall 2019 and could value Slack at about $7 billion, The Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the company's plans.

A representative for Slack said the company does not comment on "rumors and speculation."

In 2017, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield told Bloomberg that an IPO was still a long way off. The company in August closed a $427 million funding round, led by Dragoneer Investment Group and General Atlantic, that valued it at more than $7 billion.

The Journal's sources said that while the San Francisco-based company has yet to hire underwriters, it is actively preparing to go public.

Slack was founded in 2009. Its popular work-chat software is estimated to be used by 8 million people daily.

SEE ALSO: Despite new plans to turn Social Capital into a holding company, Chamath Palihapitiya was talking about raising money from outside investors for a fourth fund in late July, insiders say

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NOW WATCH: An environmental group is testing giant floating pipes to clean up oceans

• Wells Fargo & Co said on Thursday it notified about 1,000 employees in its Consumer Lending and Payments, Virtual Solutions and Innovations groups of plans to eliminate their positions.
• Most of those affected received 60-day notices, but some received pre-notices, meaning they will get a 60-day notice sometime next year.
• Over the summer, the bank laid off 600 employees in its mortgage division which has faced challenges due to a slowdown in refinancing demand.

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co said on Thursday it notified about 1,000 employees in its Consumer Lending and Payments, Virtual Solutions and Innovations groups of plans to eliminate their positions.

The layoffs are consistent with the bank’s previously announced plans to reduce headcount by up to 10 percent by 2020, spokesman Tom Goyda said. Wells Fargo, the No. 4 US bank by assets, had about 262,000 employees as of Sept. 30.

Most of those affected received 60-day notices, but some received pre-notices, meaning they will get a 60-day notice sometime next year.

About 900 of the layoffs are in the bank’s home lending unit, reflecting declines in application volume and the number of customers in default. The cuts will be spread across the United States but are concentrated in Des Moines, Iowa, which is expected to have about 400 reductions, and Fort Mill, South Carolina, which is expected to have 111 cuts.

“We are committed to retaining as many team members as possible and will do everything we can to help them identify other opportunities within Wells Fargo,” Goyda said.

Earlier this year, the company announced plans to reduce its overall headcount by up to 26,000 over the next three years to reflect changing consumer preferences as more customers use self-service technology to do their banking.

The cuts are intended to help the bank reach its goal of reducing costs by $4 billion by 2020 as it tries to increase profit and recover from a series of scandals while operating under the Federal Reserve’s asset cap.

Over the summer, the bank laid off 600 employees in its mortgage division which has faced challenges due to a slowdown in refinancing demand.

Aside from headcount reductions, Wells Fargo has pledged to lower costs and become more efficient by reducing its branch count by about 800 by 2020 and by selling noncore businesses.

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The future of banking is coming to a smartphone near you. Saving, budgeting, and paying are getting easier than ever before, thanks to new features like scanning your face with a smartphone camera to log in or using your voice to navigate your banking app. To learn which new features matter most to customers in Europe and the UK, we want to hear from you!  

This survey will take about 5 minutes. As a token of our appreciation for taking our survey, we'll send you an exclusive report on the "40 Big Tech Predictions" for 2019, which spans Apps and Platforms, Digital Media, Payments, The Internet of Things, E-Commerce, Fintech, Transportation & Logistics, and Digital Health!

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• On July 29, federal prosecutors said that Capital One was hacked, affecting 100 million users.
• The data that was breached was hosted on Amazon Web Services, but the hack itself stemmed from a vulnerability in Capital One's application — a vulnerability stemming from the way the bank set up its AWS infrastructure. 
• Experts say that AWS is not at fault, and customers should be responsible for their own cloud security.
• However, some experts say that AWS could do more to help save customers by adding more monitoring controls, educating customers about best practices, or starting a bug bounty program.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

In July, Capital One faced a massive data breach that affected over 100 million people. 

Capital One stores its data on Amazon's cloud, Amazon Web Services. To note, AWS itself wasn't hacked or otherwise compromised. Instead, the breach was apparently possible because of a misconfiguration in Capital One's cloud servers that allowed the hacker to obtain credentials and access the data in question. 

"This type of vulnerability is not specific to the cloud. The elements of infrastructure involved are common to both cloud and on-premises data center environments," a Capital One press release said. "The speed with which we were able to diagnose and fix this vulnerability, and determine its impact, was enabled by our cloud operating model."

Still, since Capital One is a major AWS customer, the incident raised questions about whether Amazon could be doing more to make its cloud safer — especially since, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported, security researchers knew about this exact type of vulnerability for years before this specific attack.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) even wrote a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, saying: "If several organisations all make similar configuration errors, it is time to ask whether the underlying technology needs to be made safer, and if the company that makes it shares responsibility for the breaches."

Amazon, for its part, told Business Insider that it does plenty to help customers like Capital One deal with cyber-threats.

"Security at AWS is our top priority. That is why we listen closely to our customers to offer both a highly secure cloud computing environment and a range of tools and resources they can leverage in building and implementing their own application-level security measures," said a spokesperson, in part. You can read Amazon's full statement below.

Steve Riley, senior research director at Gartner, says there was no mistake by AWS that allowed Paige Thompson, the suspected cyberattacker, to obtain access to sensitive information. Although Thompson previously worked for Amazon, there's no indication that the attacker had any kind of insider information that might have facilitated the breach. 

Read more: Amazon's cloud was at the heart of the big Capital One hack, even though it doesn't seem to be at fault

Still, Business Insider spoke with various analysts, researchers, and security companies on whether cloud providers should do more to protect its customers from making mistakes like this. Capital One did not respond to request for comment.

"The Capital One breach doesn't alter Gartner's opinion that public cloud computing can be a more secure starting point than on-premises data centers for applications and data of all types," Riley said. "It does illustrate, however, that the cloud requires specific education and immersion into new sets of skills."

'At the end of the day, AWS is an infrastructure provider'

In general, many experts said that security is the responsibility of the customer, not the cloud provider. 

Jud Waite, senior analyst at CB Insights, says businesses shouldn't just assume that using AWS alone makes their IT infrastructure safe. 

"At the end of the day, AWS is an infrastructure provider. They provide a specific set of services for their customers. Every business is tasked with securing its own data and own applications," Waite told Business Insider. "I don't really think it's on the cloud provider to be responsible or held responsible for securing this type of information."

Josh Bosquez, chief technology officer of Armor Cloud Security, says that AWS gives customers a wide array of security tools, and plenty of documentation on how to use them, but it's up to customers to use them properly — and to obtain security products from outside vendors, too, as appropriate. 

"It's up to you as a consumer to secure your own platform," Bosquez told Business Insider. "I think AWS is one of the most advanced technology platforms that we've seen of our time. If you're not an expert in how to manage and leverage it, you can do some damage on it. They give you enough ropes to secure what you need to. You just need to follow best practices they prescribe."

Fleming Shi, CTO of Barracuda Networks, echoes these sentiments, and says that many problems begin with human erorr. 

"The security for the application, the security of the data really relies on the duties of the application builders," Shi told Business Insider. "I will say AWS in many cases already provides the tools. It's not like they don't give you the tools. It's just because the number of assets when people are using the public cloud, they're incorrectly using it."

More monitoring

Still, some experts say that there's more that can be done on a technical level. Waite says AWS should implement a bug bounty program, similar to those run by companies like Microsoft and Apple, which offers financial rewards to hackers who find flaws in its cloud. 

Ravi Balupari, founder and vice president of engineering and research at ArecaBay, says that cloud providers could do more to provide customers with more controls to monitor how their data is being accessed.

He says that those customers especially need help locking down their application programming interfaces, or APIs, which allow applications to talk to each other. Indeed, Thompson allegedly achieved the hack by improperly obtaining the credentials for an API.

"If you really look at it, at the heart of a lot of these breaches, everything was about data," Balupari told Business Insider. "What people are not realizing and what there is not emphasis is protecting your APIs. That's where the cloud providers need to step up and do better. This could be providing more controls so enterprises can start to look at what's going on in and out."

Riley notes that from what we know so far, the attack wasn't especially stealthy: The system itself appears to have logged the cyberattack as it happened; it apparently just went unnoticed by Capital One until a tipster let the bank know that the data was out in the wild.

In general, Riley says, it's critical that companies mitigate human error in these extremely complex systems by making sure that data access controls and permissions are airtight. And, furthermore, it's important to have systems in place for checking data access logs. 

Educating customers

Heather Paunet, vice president of product management at Untangle, agrees that it's not Amazon's responsibility to force its customers to secure their data, especially since that's easier said than done thanks to the wide variety of products on the market.

However, she says, AWS could do more to teach customers about how to approach the problem of securing their cloud infrastructure. 

"Since their platform is being used more and more, they can play a large part in educating their customers and make sure their customers know what options they have and secure their own systems," Paunet told Business Insider.

John Yeoh, vice president of research at the Cloud Security Alliance  — an industry group which counts Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services, Oracle, and other cloud giants as members — says cloud providers can always do more to educate their users.

"From a provider perspective, it's about educating your end users about what your limitations are," Yeoh told Business Insider. "At the same time, are you going that extra mile to ensure your customers are secure. That's when we do need to push the platforms and all the providers to do better at notifications. Are they properly configured and properly understood by end-users?"

AWS says it offers guidance to customers through documentation and resources on best security practices.

"We are constantly delivering new tools and features that help customers build and operate in a secure way, and we will continue to educate customers about the resources available to them," an AWS spokesperson said.

Here's the full statement from an AWS spokesperson:

"Security at AWS is our top priority. That is why we listen closely to our customers to offer both a highly secure cloud computing environment and a range of tools and resources they can leverage in building and implementing their own application-level security measures. AWS offers multiple layers of security to remediate threats, including the AWS Web Application Firewall (designed to thwart commonly known risks), IAM roles and policies for fine-grained limiting of credential access to only authorized systems, exfiltration detection through Amazon Macie, and anomalous behavior detection through Amazon GuardDuty. We also provide customers with prescriptive guidance in the form of extensive documentation and resources like the AWS Well-Architected Framework to help them adhere to best practices. We are constantly delivering new tools and features that help customers build and operate in a secure way, and we will continue to educate customers about the resources available to them."

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about TensorFlow, Google’s own home-made AI software that’s now helping NASA discover planets and beating champions at Go

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• Hong Kong protesters are trying something new on August 16 — withdrawing their money from banks or converting it to US dollars. 
• Protesters are hoping to protect their assets in case of further Chinese intervention and show the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam that there will be economic consequences for ignoring protesters' appeals.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hong Kong protesters have come up with a new nonviolent protest tactic — taking all their money out of ATMs and banks to send a message to the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. 

On August 16, Hong Kong protesters plan to withdraw as much money as possible from their banks or change their currency into US dollars, both to protect their own assets and to show the mainland that the semiautonomous island is more than just a cash cow.

Posts in LIHKG, Hong Kong's version of Reddit, show photos of hard currency withdrawn from banks, as well as ATMs declaring they're out of cash. While the official protest is set to take place on August 16, Hongkongers have begun to take out their cash in advance because they can withdraw only $20,000 per day. 

The Hong Kong student who started this latest protest, which activists have named the Cashout HKD to USD, told INSIDER that as of Thursday, over 70 million Hong Kong dollars (nearly $9 million) had been withdrawn, both in Hong Kong currency and in US currency; the claim couldn't be independently verified. More than 400 protesters have recorded their withdrawals, and a Telegram channel for the protest has over 1,500 members.

Read more: Hong Kong activists use 'Pokémon Go' and Tinder to organize as police crack down on protests

The Hong Kong protests have been going on for 10 weeks, and while they have become increasingly violent, they have also become increasingly creative, with activists using laser pointers to protest the arrest of a student.

The latest method intends to strike Lam and the People's Republic of China where it hurts.

"This may work because Carrie Lam and the PRC care much about the economy," the Hong Kong student who started the protest told INSIDER. 

The student said this movement, like the others, demands the Hong Kong government do five things: "Completely withdraw the extradition bill; retract the proclamation that the protests were riots; withdraw criminal charges against all protesters; thoroughly investigate abuse of powers by the police; dissolve the Legislative Council by administrative order; and immediately implement dual universal suffrage."

Other activists expressed fear about the fate of Hong Kong's currency, given the current, and likely future, instability. 

A post in LIHKG says the Hong Kong dollar will cease to bepegged to the US dollar within the year and that foreign capital will flow out of Hong Kong as China continues to threaten Hong Kong with military involvement.

"If you want to protect yourself, you must first convert most of the assets ... in order to maintain value in US dollars or other reliable foreign currency," it says.

China's messaging has encouraged peace and stabilityin Hong Kong so that economic activity can continue without interruption. Hong Kong is one of Asia's main financial sectors and China's economic bridge to the rest of the world.

But given that China has seen its economy and standard of living grow exponentially in recent decades, that economic boon hasn't necessarily translated to many Hongkongers; there are serious economic disparities there, with marginalized groups like ethnic minorities, low-income workers, and women more likely to fall into poverty, the South China Morning Post reported.

SEE ALSO: Hong Kong will become another Tiananmen Square if China's army comes, a protest leader warns

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• What would you do if you suddenly had an additional $120,000 padding your bank account?
• Back in June, one Montoursville, Pennsylvania, couple apparently found themselves in that predicament. They allegedly spent every last cent of it.
• Within two weeks, Robert and Tiffany Williams allegedly spent money on items like a camper, a car trailer, and a racecar.
• When contacted by the bank about the mistake, they said they'd set up a payment plan. 
• The couple was arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

What would you do if your bank account was suddenly padded by an extra $100,000?

Back in June, one Montoursville, Pennsylvania, couple apparently found themselves in that predicament, the Sun-Gazette reports. On May 31, a bank teller mistakenly deposited $120,000 in Robert and TIffany Williams' account with BB&T bank, according to WNEP.

The couple is accused of spending all the money in a two-week period between June 3 and June 19, per WNEP.  Apparently very interested in various modes of transportation, the couple allegedly spent the money on the following items, according to the affidavit:

• A down payment on a Chevrolet SUV: $15,000
• A camper: $4,500
• A car trailer: $6,000
• Two four-wheelers: $10,400
• A racecar: an unknown amount

They also spent money on bills and other miscellaneous purchases. The affidavit said that the couple also paid out $15,000 to their friends.

Read more:A Michigan couple who won the lottery in 2016 were just charged in a months-long burglary spree

But on June 20, it all ended when a bank teller contacted Tiffany to tell her she and Robert owed $107,000 in overdraft fees, according to the affidavit. The bank was in contact with the couple twice, and during one of the calls, Tiffany said she and Robert would establish a repayment plan.

But after that, the bank couldn't reach the couple. That's when state police got involved.

The couple's account had an average balance of $1,000 and an actual balance of $1,121 before the mistaken deposit, the affidavit notes. 

In separate interviews with police, the couple "admitted to knowing the mislaid money did not belong to them, but they spent it anyway," the affidavit said. 

The couple was arraigned Tuesday. They face felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property. They were both released on $25,000 bail, the Sun-Gazette reported.

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• Thieves broke into an Australian Apple Store with a sledgehammer and stole $300,000 worth of Apple products — but they may already be worth nothing

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• Depending on where you bank and your history with the bank, you may be eligible for money-saving perks you didn't know about.
• Many banks will forgive overdraft fees, waive early-withdrawal fees on investments, and find ways to make your credit card debt more manageable.
• You may also qualify for perks if you're opening a new account, and many banks offer free or reduced-fee access to cultural attractions for customers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

More than just safe places to store your cash, banks are businesses — which means they offer customers products, services, and other perks you might not be aware of.

Depending on where you bank — and how long you've been banking there — you may be missing out on some great opportunities to save (or, in some cases, earn) money.

Curious about how you can take better advantage of all your bank has to offer? Here are a few things you may not know your bank can do for you.

Forgive overdraft fees

If you've ever overdrafted your checking account, then you know overdraft fees can be a source of major frustration. The good news is, most banks will waive fees like this if you ask. 

"In cases where you have an overdraft or other unexpected fee on your account, always make sure to call your bank and discuss it," suggests Lou Haverty, a certified financial advisor. "Explain that you weren't expecting the fee, and let them know you were otherwise happy with the service you received. Many banks will give you a one-time fee waiver as a courtesy."

Text banking

You probably already know that mobile banking makes a quick transfer or debit card balance check convenient — but text banking offers a whole separate level of ease that doesn't require you to sign into an app.

Some banks offer the option of accessing account information, checking balances due on credit cards, and even transferring money between your accounts at that bank via secure text message.

If you have text banking, you may also be able to receive fraud alerts directly to your phone.

Help you pay off high-interest debts

There's nothing worse than throwing money out the window on credit cards with excessive interest. If you're drowning in high-interest debt, your bank may be able to help by offering you a personal loan at a lower rate.

Not only does consolidating credit card payments make paying off debt more convenient, you could also save a considerable amount of money on interest in the long run.

Match interest rates

Your local hardware store isn't the only place that will match prices to keep you coming back. To retain customers, banks will often match or exceed a rate you receive elsewhere.

Haverty recommends getting at least two quotes whenever you plan to use a bank product, like a loan or credit card. Just go into the higher-priced bank and let your banker know you received a better option elsewhere.

Automate your savings

Automating savings is a great way to make a habit of investing. Whether you want to set up a $1 deposit into your savings every time you swipe your debit card or automatically transfer money from one account to another on a monthly basis, the majority of banks will accommodate your request for an automatic transfer, according to Kevin Panitch, founder of Just Start Investing.

Waive early withdrawal fees

If you have to withdraw early from a CD or pay a loan off early, most banks charge a penalty fee. But Rob Stephens, founder of CFO Perspective, says if a bank knows you can get a better CD or loan rate somewhere else, they'll often be willing to waive fees to keep your business.

"Most bank staff really do want to provide you with the best rates and lowest fees. It pays to treat them respectfully and allow them to work with you to identify the best products and pricing for you," Stephens says.

Lower your monthly payments

There's no reason you should be penalized for going through a difficult time with your finances, and in many cases, your bank can help you set up a loan or credit card payment plan that works for you.

On top of waiving fees and forgiving penalties, finance coach Carlos Then says your bank can lower your monthly payments so they're a bit more manageable. Some banks will also connect you with a credit counselor to talk through your credit card debt and options for repaying it.

Give you perks when you open an account

Looking for incentives when you open up an account? "Most banks offer extra perks and incentives if their employer has a pre-existing relationship with the bank," says personal finance blogger Nermeen Ghneim. "This is known as WorkPlace Banking and can result in an additional $150 or more in your pocket." Ask your banker if WorkPlace Banking is an option for you.

Allow you to freeze your debit card

While not as common, Ghneim says a few banks can offer you the ability to freeze your debit card and put limits on spending categories.

"This is an excellent feature for parents who want to get their children prepped for using credit cards but still enforce financial boundaries," he says.

Provide free access to cultural attractions

Who knew you didn't have to pay full price for museums, zoos, and aquariums? Some banks offer account holders free general admission to attractions on specific days of the month.

To learn more about admission perks (and all the other services your bank might have to offer), ask a banker at your local branch or call the bank's customer service line. 

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• The unemployment rate is at record lows, and small businesses are struggling more than ever to fill essential positions.
• Bank of America's head of small business says that small firms think creatively about their health care and benefits offerings in order to attract and retain key talent.
• Local business owners continue to report high levels of confidence in their own future growth, even as talk of a recession clouds the national forecasts.
• B of A internal metrics show that consumer spending remains strong in spite of other economic indicators, and that bodes well for local businesses' bottom line.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories

Business owners may represent a wide spectrum of categories and backgrounds, but they often face a common set of fundamental challenges — and increasingly, they're working with the same bank.

Bank of America serves more than 12 million business owner clients, and it is growing where its competitors are flat or declining. That means one of every 3 small businesses in the US is in the portfolio of Sharon Miller, Bank of America's head of small businesses. The bank recently surpassed Wells Fargo to become the largest lender for the category, with more than $37.8 billion in outstanding loans under $1 million, according to FDIC data.

In an interview with Business Insider, Miller highlighted several issues that unite small- and medium-sized business, or SMB, owners — starting with a need to be creative about providing healthcare and benefits in order to compete in a tight labor market.

Finding the right people

For SMB owners, the most pressing issues are "how do I find the right people are going to come into my company, and how can I set up the right benefits to compete with major corporations," Miller says.

Even as the pace of job creation slowed down in September, the US unemployment rate is still at record lows. For the past quarter, small and mid-sized firms' hiring outpaced that of larger companies. Still, small businesses are struggling more than ever to fill open positions.

"What I hear from business owners is, 'We can't find the right skilled talent to fill the roles that we have open,'" Miller said.

From her conversations with business owners in general and health services providers in particular, Miller says that most small firms are focused on optimizing their health care and benefits offerings to attract and retain key talent. For a local dental clinic or veterinarian's office, everyone from reception to technicians to managers is part of a close-knit team, and the cost of labor turnover can be especially painful. 

"Health care costs are something that comes up, whether it be the complexity of getting that done for their business, the cost for getting that done," Miller said. "And I bucket that into more of a benefits conversation because you're competing against big corporations for talent."

While Bank of America doesn't offer health insurance, it is developing specially tailored financial products with its partner Merrill Lynch to provide small businesses with more options for savings and retirement accounts.

Shaping the team

Employee fit is especially important for companies with fewer than 50 people, where each individual contributes a greater share of the skills and culture than at large firms. Finding a good fit can take more time, and keeping key players on the team can be critical for success.

"When you have ten employees and you have one leave, that's a big deal," Miller said. "How am I going to replace that skill that they brought to the table? And small businesses — unlike big corporations — those 10, that's the culture."

Miller points to Bank of America's Pathways program as a model that other businesses would be wise to develop to improve their own recruitment pipeline. The initiative is on track to meet its 2019 goal of re-training and hiring 10,000 workers from other sectors who would otherwise never had the opportunity to join the company.

According to recent small business surveys from Bank of America as well as from Capital One and American Express, business owners continue to report high levels of confidence in their own future growth and hiring plans, even as talk of a recession clouds the national forecasts.

Consumers are shopping local

Miller attributes entrepreneurs' optimism largely to the fact that consumer spending remains strong, which bodes well for local businesses' bottom line. According Miller's interpretation of the bank's data from 90 local US markets, consumers continue to support their local businesses at a healthy clip.

"We see strength in the consumer, which carries right into what's happening in small business and the local economy," Miller said. "You may hear some different data coming out saying business confidence is down, but when you think about where we've come [since the 2008 Recession], we're still at historic highs, just like we're at historic lows in unemployment."

A retreat from hiring by larger firms presents an opportunity for small businesses who are looking to recruit the skilled workforce they need to meet the steady consumer demand. A calculated investment now in benefits like healthcare and retirement plans could help small businesses tip the labor market trends in their favor. 

'Business owners don't stop'

Another reason business owners are confident, Miller says, is because entrepreneurs have especially high levels of determination and attachment that comes from building their personal vision into a functioning businesses. For many owners, it isn't just a job.

"It's your life," she said. "I noticed immediately that business owners don't stop and say, 'Oh I'm a business owner. Now I'm the CFO, I'm the CEO, and now I'm going to go home and be the mom. I'm the same.'"

Hiring is hard. Benefits are complicated. Economics are uncertain. Nevertheless, Miller feels strongly that her clients have what it takes to meet those challenges. 

"What I see in my portfolio is strength," she said. "Whatever noise is going on in the media, what we're seeing through the data, and what we see happening in consumer spending — which directly ties to what's going on in local economies and businesses — there's strength."

The headline and text of this post were updated to reflect Bank of America's most recent (Oct. 10) official figure of 12 million "business owner clients," a small percentage of whom may not considered small businesses in terms of revenues or employees.

SEE ALSO: The small retailer's ultimate guide to partnering with Amazon so you can make a boatload of money with fewer risks, from small-business owners and Amazon itself

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• International Bank Vaults is opening a new location in London that will be home to the most expensive safety deposit boxes in the British capital and will only serve billionaires, The Guardian reported.
• Clients will be chauffeured to and from the vault, which is located in a gothic mansion with views of Hyde Park, in a Rolls-Royce owned by the bank, according to The Guardian.
• Precious metals including gold have received more attention from billionaire investors in 2019 amid increased market volatility.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Some ultrawealthy people are moving their fortunes out of the stock market as recession fears mount — and a new billionaires-only bank vault is opening in London to accommodate their new investments.

Located in a mansion next to the Dorchester Hotel on London's ritzy Park Lane, the bank will be home to the most expensive safety deposit boxes in the British capital when it opens next week, The Guardian's Rupert Neate reported. The smallest boxes, just 2 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 19 inches deep, will be rented for $776 (£600) annually, according to The Guardian. A box twice that size at department store Harrod's, which is currently the most expensive place to store your valuables in London, goes for $601 (£465) a year, according to The Guardian.

Not everyone who can afford a box and the precious metals to fill it will be able to lease one, however. "We won't deal with millionaires," the vault's managing director Sean Hoey told The Guardian. "We will be dealing only with billionaires." The firm behind the bank, International Bank Vaults, told The Guardian that the vault had also had "a few inquiries" from billionaires willing to pay $3.2 million (£2.5 million) annually to rent an entire room for their gold collection.

Billionaire investors are paying more attention to gold amid increased market volatility

Billionaire real estate investor Sam Zell told Bloomberg in January that he invested in gold for the first time in 2019, saying he believed the precious metal was "a good hedge" as the worldwide supply shrinks. Billionaire hedge-fund manager Paul Tudor Jones told Bloomberg in June that gold "has everything going for it."

The new vault will likely be heavily armored to accommodate its precious cargo. It was built with steel walls to prevent thieves from tunneling in, The Guardian reported. IBV's other vaults, located in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa, feature bullet-resistant glass, closed-circuit surveillance, dual-key systems, biometric readers, and seismic detection, according to the company's website.

International Bank Vaults didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the features, costs, or procedures of the new vault.

The vault's features aren't limited to security

It was also designed to feel more like an "exclusive private members club than a bank," Hoey told The Guardian. The gothic mansion that houses the vault, known as Stanhope House, was built in 1910 for soap manufacturer Mr. R.W. Hudson and has views of Hyde Park, according to a database of London buildings called Buildington. IBV also purchased a Rolls-Royce to chauffeur clients to and from the vault and hired "white-gloved custodians" to help them with their belongings.

High-end safety deposit boxes aren't the only place the ultrawealthy are turning to stash their fortunes. They're also stockpiling cash, embracing ETFs, ditching bonds, and paying down their debts, financial planners for ultra-high net worth individuals previously told Business Insider: Protecting and growing their existing fortunes is billionaires' primary financial concern, Ashley Folkes, a certified financial planner and the senior vice president of Arizona wealth-management firm Moors & Cabot, told Business Insider.

Their fears may be well-founded. Morgan Stanley warned in August that a recession may be imminent despite stimulus efforts by the central banks of the US, China, and Germany, Markets Insider's Daniel Strauss previously reported.

Do you work with the ultra-wealthy and have a story to share? Contact the reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-4725 using a non-work phone, email at trogers@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM at @TaylorNRogers. (PR pitches by email only, please.)

SEE ALSO: Billionaires' success boils down to a set of 3 personality traits that aren't directly tied to intelligence, a new report says

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• Sauntore Thomas, 44, of Detroit, Michigan, has filed a racial discrimination against TCF Bank, according to the Detroit Free Press. 
• He said the bank refused to accept checks he received in a settlement from a separate racial discrimination lawsuit he had filed against his employer, Enterprise Leasing Company. 
• He said the bank accused him of fraud and called police to investigate the checks. 
• Thomas said the checks were real, and he was able to deposit them at a Chase Bank hours later.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A black man in Detroit has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against TCF Bank after its staff refused to cash checks from a settlement he received in a separate racial discrimination suit.

Sauntore Thomas, 44, told the Detroit Free Press that he had sued his employer, Enterprise Leasing Company, for racial discrimination, and the case was later settled outside court for an undisclosed amount of money.

Thomas said that when he went to a TCF Bank branch in Livonia, Michigan, on Tuesday to cash checks from the settlement, employees refused to deposit them and instead called the cops, accusing Thomas of fraud. 

The incident lead Thomas to call his lawyer, Deborah Gordon, and initiate a second racial discrimination suit, this time against TCF Bank, a predominately Midwestern chain of banks. He said the Livonia branch humiliated him. The case was filed in state court on Wednesday, Gordon told Insider. 

Wennerberg told the Free Press that racism was not at play when Thomas's checks were turned down.

He said that when staff evaluated the checks on a computer, they found a watermark that read "VOID," and wanted to confirm the checks were valid through a police investigation. In emails between police and Gordon seen by the Free Press, a police officer said the checks were deemed fraudulent by the bank's computer, and that the checks looked different from Enterprise's payroll checks.

Thomas disputed the watermark accusation, saying he was able to clear the checks at a Chase Bank after opening an account at a location 12 hours later. He then closed his TCF Bank account.

Thomas did not disclose how much the checks were worth because of a confidentiality agreement. TCF Bank spokesman Tom Wennerberg said the checks were worth $59,000, $27,000 and $13,000.

"I didn't deserve treatment like that when I knew that the check was not fraudulent," Thomas told the Free Press. "I'm a United States veteran. I have an honorable discharge from the Air Force. They discriminated against me because I'm black. None of this would have happened if I were white."

Thomas, who is suing TCF Bank for unspecified damages, told the Free Press that he used money from his original settlement to buy a car, since he previously had walked to work.

Gordon called the incident "outrageous" in a comment to the Free Press. 

In a comment to Insider, Gordon said TCF Bank was "immediately suspicious" of the checks Thomas had presented. 

"Of course, the checks were clearly legitimate. My client was intimidated, upset and embarrassed. He kept his composure, though," she told Insider. "He was afraid that with the police there the situation could quickly escalate and he would end up in handcuffs or worse. The irony is that the proceeds were from the settlement of a race discrimination case."

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• A former intern at Goldman Sachs is suing the bank and several of its employees, alleging the firm condoned a "fraternity culture" that resulted in a traumatic brain injury.
• Patrick Blumenthal's lawyers allege his manager — the wealth adviser Julius Erukhimov — repeatedly forced the intern to drink and mocked employees for not participating in the "hazing."
• The lawsuit focuses on one bar outing in which it accuses the manager of punching Blumenthal, choking him until he was unconscious, throwing him to the ground where the intern "smashed" his head, and threatening to have relatives kill Blumenthal if he told management of the incident.
• Blumenthal is suing for damages exceeding $25,000, citing causes of action including assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and general negligence.
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

A former Goldman Sachs intern is suing the bank, alleging it condoned a "fraternity culture" that resulted in a traumatic brain injury blamed on one of its wealth advisers.

Patrick Blumenthal served as an intern for Goldman Sachs in San Francisco from September 2017 to February 2018, according to a February 7 court filing originally obtained by CourthouseNews.com. He was assigned to work with a group that called itself "Team 007" and was led by the wealth adviser Julius Erukhimov. Blumenthal began the internship while a student at Drexel University and turned 21 years old during it.

The filing alleges that the bank "fostered a fraternity culture" complete with derogatory name-calling, member composites, physical altercations, and "rampant" drinking. It says Blumenthal was pressured to drink within his first week at Goldman despite being underage and was repeatedly warned early on that he would "take an infinite amount of shit from people." The filing says Erukhimov called the plaintiff a "pussy" for not drinking enough and even told Blumenthal to take Adderall so he could drink more.

The filing says Blumenthal told Michelle Kelly, the employee who hired him, about the treatment and asked to switch teams but Kelly made no attempt to transfer him.

The incident emphasized in the lawsuit involves one of the bank's "First Friday" bar events, where it says Blumenthal was "forced to drink by his managers." The filing accuses Erukhimov of telling the plaintiff he would "teach him how to drink" before punching Blumenthal in his stomach and telling him to punch his manager back.

The filing says that when Blumenthal declined, Erukhimov wrestled with the smaller intern and pushed him from the bar to the outdoor patio. There, it alleges, the adviser choked Blumenthal for so long he passed out, urinated on himself, and smashed his head after Erukhimov threw him to the ground.

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In an emailed statement, a representative for the bank said Goldman had "tried unsuccessfully to obtain more information" from Blumenthal about his injuries and was "committed to maintaining a safe and welcoming workplace," adding that "the alleged behavior does not reflect our values."

The statement noted that the complaint described an incident between "two former employees," adding that Erukhimov no longer worked at the bank.

The plaintiff's lawyers allege numerous Goldman employees witnessed the altercation, including senior managers and managing agents. The bank's statement said that Goldman quickly looked into the incident and that the witnesses didn't see the event as an intentional act.

"When it came to our attention we investigated immediately and took action, including to ensure the plaintiff was receiving medical care," Goldman's representative wrote, adding that the employees witnessing the event "viewed Patrick's fall as an accident and offered support, including an offer to seek medical assistance."

When Blumenthal came to, the present employees let Erukhimov take the intern to his own home. But the filing alleges that at the adviser's apartment, Erukhimov gave the plaintiff four pain relievers and threatened that, should Blumenthal tell management of the events, a relative would kill him.

The court filing alleges that the adviser had previously boasted that his cousin and uncle were contract killers for Russian oligarchs and had bragged about his personal gun collection.

Erukhimov is also accused of having told Blumenthal stories of his relatives harming others, including an anecdote in which a cousin — who was purportedly visiting San Francisco in a few weeks — put a nightclub bouncer "in a vegetative state" after he asked the cousin to not stand on a table.

Two days after the event, the intern was hospitalized and received a diagnosis of a hemorrhagic stroke, the filing said. The altercation at the bar and subsequent conversation at Erukhimov's house left Blumenthal with "a traumatic brain injury, extreme mental anguish, PTSD, and physical pain," the plaintiff's lawyers wrote.

Blumenthal spent a month "terrified to speak" about the event and was unable to return to school or his internship, the filing said. On March 26, 2018, he emailed Kimberly Vivas, a business-unit manager at the bank and defendant in the case, informing her of the event.

Vivas told the plaintiff to contact Aime Hendricks, a human-resources employee in Goldman's New York office. Blumenthal claims that he didn't hear back from Hendricks for nearly a month after emailing her and that when she responded she informed the former intern "we have taken actions we have deemed appropriate."

The court filing alleges personal injury and calls for damages payments exceeding $25,000. Causes of action cited in the document include assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision, and employer ratification.

Blumenthal is represented by personal-injury attorneys William Green and Kailyn Sharp of Delfino Green & Green.

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• HSBC shares tumbled as much as 5.6% early Tuesday after the bank unveiled its third restructuring plan in a decade.
• The overhaul looks to cut as many as 35,000 jobs by 2022 as well as halt share buyback programs planned for 2020 and 2021.
• Restructuring costs are estimated to hit $6 billion, while asset disposal charges will total $1.2 billion through 2022, the bank said.
• The bank also announced its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, reporting a 33% drop in pre-tax profits year-over-year.
• Watch HSBC trade live here.

HSBC shares fell as much as 5.6% in early Tuesday trading after the bank announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs in a major overhaul.

Europe's largest investment bank by market cap looks to slash underperforming offices in the US and Europe and focus on Asia for further growth. HSBC expects to take a $6 billion charge from restructuring and a $1.2 billion charge from asset disposal costs over the next three years.

Tuesday's drop on the London Stock Exchange was HSBC's biggest since September 2017, according to Bloomberg. 

The company posted its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday alongside the overhaul plan. Quarterly revenue and pre-tax earnings landed above analyst estimates, but profits fell 33% from the year-ago quarter.

Here are the key numbers:

Revenue: $13.1 billion, versus the $13 billion estimate

Quarterly pre-tax profit: $4.3 billion, versus the $3.9 billion estimate

2019 pre-tax profit: $22.2 billion, versus the $21.8 billion estimate

Total jobs: down to 200,000 by 2022 from 235,000

Share buybacks will be suspended for 2020 and 2021, and gross assets held by the bank will be reduced by $100 billion over the next three years, according to the report. HSBC warned coronavirus fallout will bring additional hits to future performance, but the magnitude of the damage is still unclear. 

"Depending on how the situation develops, there is the potential for any associated economic slowdown to impact our expected credit losses in Hong Kong and mainland China," the bank said in its latest quarterly report.

The bank is going to be "surgical and ruthless" in its plan to cut underperforming businesses, Chief Financial Officer Ewen Stevenson said in a Bloomberg TV interview. HSBC plans to combine its consumer banking and private banking divisions into a standalone platform, while also shrinking its global reporting lines to four from seven.

The latest restructuring plan is HSBC's third in a decade, and comes amid a continued search for a permanent CEO. Former chief executive John Flint left the company roughly one year after his 2018 improvement plan failed. Chairman Mark Tucker now leads the plan to cut costs and capitalize on Asian and Middle Eastern markets while also looking to fill the bank's top role.

HSBC traded at $35.82 per share as of 12 p.m. ET Tuesday, down 8% year-to-date.

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• The S&P 500 is down 8% since February 21, and Goldman Sachs says the key index will continue dropping in the first half of the year.
• The bank estimates the S&P 500 will plummet to 2,900 — an additional 7% from Wednesday's close — before recovering through the end of 2020.
• US companies will fail to generate earnings growth in 2020 as the outbreak cripples Chinese economic activity, tears into supply chains, and weakens demand, Goldman analysts wrote Thursday.
• The bank upgraded its outlook on the real estate and utilities sectors and recommended investors shift to defensive strategies as the coronavirus epidemic intensifies.
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

Rapid escalation of the global coronavirus crisis has driven an 8% sell-off in the S&P 500 index since Friday. Goldman Sachs thinks there's more room to fall.

The investment bank projected Thursday that further spreading of the deadly virus can push the US index to 2,900 in the near term. The estimate implies a 7% drop from the index's Wednesday close and assumes the 10-year Treasury yield falls below 1% as investors insulate from stock market shocks.

US firms will fail to grow profits through 2020 if the virus spreads further, analysts with the bank added. The dismal forecast accounts for a "severe decline" in China's economic activity, a slowdown in the US economy, disruption to global supply chains, and growing uncertainty concerning the epidemic. 

If the outbreak escalates to a dire pandemic, Goldman estimates US company profits will shrink through 2020 before bouncing back the following year.

The bank raised its outlook on the traditionally defensive real estate and utilities sectors and lowered its rating for financials. Banks are more likely to face the "headwind of falling interest rates" as central banks respond to virus risks, the analysts said. Firms with strong revenue streams in the US are better picks than those exposed to global uncertainties, Goldman added. 

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"Pandemic risk is real and our basket of firms that are domestically-oriented will likely outperform companies with a high share of foreign sales," the team led by David Kostin wrote.

Goldman's updated baseline scenario assumes the virus' economic impact is sharp but "ultimately short-lived." The first half of 2020 will see production halts and weaker demand drag on global equities. Yet firms will recoup sales activity through the end of the year as the outbreak is contained and economies stabilize, the bank said.

Coronavirus is responsible for more than 2,800 deaths and has infected more than 82,000 people as of Thursday morning. The virus, which causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19, has spread to more than 40 countries after originating in Wuhan, China.

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