UA conference to focus on women in IT
Gov. Asa Hutchinson and top executives from major Arkansas companies will attend the 2017 Women in Information Technology conference on Wednesday at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Hutchinson will speak, along with keynote speakers Rita Carney, a retired Wal-Mart executive, and Lisa Tuttle, chief information security officer for SPX Corp., according to a release. The conference also features two panel discussions including executives from Dillard's Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc.
The event at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. It is sponsored by the Information Technology Research Institute at the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
Tickets are $225 for the general public, $180 for UA staff or faculty, and $20 for students, who must provide ID. More information is available on the Information Technology Research Institute's website, itri.uark.edu.
-- John Magsam
KFC says no to antibiotic-raised chicken
NEW YORK -- KFC said it plans to stop serving chicken raised with antibiotics important to human health.
The fried-chicken chain said the change will be completed by the end of next year at its more than 4,000 U.S. restaurants. Other fast-food companies have made similar pledges, including McDonald's Corp.
Meat producers give animals antibiotics to make them grow faster and prevent illness, a practice that has become a public health issue. Officials have said it can lead to germs becoming resistant to drugs, making antibiotics no longer effective in treating some illnesses in humans.
KFC said it is working with more than 2,000 poultry farms around the country to make the change.
The chain, owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., said it is also in the process of removing artificial colors and flavors from certain menu items by the end of 2018.
-- The Associated Press
Adviser backs splitting bank operations
WASHINGTON -- White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said Friday that separating Wall Street's investment and retail banking operations would increase lending by eliminating the need for burdensome regulations.
Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, said he supports President Donald Trump's call for a new version of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated lending banks from investment banking.
"If we come up with a 21st-century, modern Glass-Steagall, we may be able to tailor regulation for different aspects of the financial markets and different aspects of the financial institutions and that would allow banks to get lending more aggressively to small- and medium-sized companies," Cohn said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Friday.
Cohn didn't provide specifics of what an updated version of Glass-Steagall would look like. He said it's consistent with the administration's efforts to decrease banking regulation and spur economic growth. Cohn's comments came after he told lawmakers in a private meeting Wednesday that he backed the separation of banks' business lines.
A group of senators Thursday proposed legislation that would separate consumer and investment banking. Similar bills haven't gained traction in previous years.
-- Bloomberg News
Mexicans traveling to Canada, not U.S.
WASHINGTON -- Airports in Miami, Orlando, San Antonio and Denver clocked fewer travelers coming from Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico, in the first two months of 2017, while Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver saw a surge in traffic from Mexico's capital.
Mexicans may be choosing to alter their travel plans because of Twitter jabs from U.S. President Donald Trump, his plans for a wall to divide the two nations and uncertainty over travel restrictions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, announced plans last June to lift a visa requirement for Mexicans that allows them to enter the country with only a passport.
"It's the uncertainty more than anything," said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "A lot of people have canceled their trips to the U.S. because they don't understand the new rules."
-- Bloomberg News
Ditch 12 Wells Fargo execs, firm urges
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A proxy advisory firm on Friday urged shareholders to vote against 12 of Wells Fargo's 15 directors over the bank's sales scandal.
In a report, Institutional Shareholder Services said the 12 members of the board's audit, risk and human resources committees "failed over a number of years to provide a timely and sufficient risk oversight process that should have mitigated the harmful impact of the unsound retail banking sales practices that occurred from 2011-2016."
The firm recommended yes votes for the three other board members -- new Chief Executive Officer Tim Sloan and newcomers Karen Peetz and Ronald Sargent -- at the bank's annual shareholder meeting April 25 in Florida. Proxy advisory firms such as Institutional Shareholder Services play an important role in shaping the voting of big institutional investors such as pension funds.
In September, regulators fined San Francisco-based Wells Fargo $185 million to settle allegations that its employees opened as many as 2 million fake accounts to meet high-pressure sales goals. The scandal has tarnished the bank's reputation, cost former CEO John Stumpf his job and spurred congressional hearings and new investigations.
In a statement, the Wells Fargo board responded sharply to the report, highlighting its efforts to overhaul the bank's operations.
"The extreme and unprecedented [Institutional Shareholder Services] voting recommendation on directors fails to recognize the active engagement of the Board and the substantial actions it has already taken to strengthen oversight and increase accountability at all levels of Wells Fargo, including important improvements to corporate governance," the statement said.
-- Charlotte Observer
Fitch cuts South Africa's credit rating
LONDON -- South African debt got dealt a second blow in a week Friday as Fitch Ratings Ltd. joined S&P Global Ratings and cut the nation's credit assessment to junk following President Jacob Zuma's move to fire a well-respected finance minister.
Fitch reduced the foreign-currency rating to BB+, the highest non-investment grade, the company said in a statement, four days after S&P reduced its assessment. The local-currency rating was also lowered one level to junk. The outlook is stable.
Zuma fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who pushed for budget restraint, in a cabinet reshuffle on March 31, igniting South Africa's worst political crisis in almost a decade and sparking calls from top officials for Zuma to resign. Investors regard the firing as a blow to an economy growing at the slowest pace since a 2009 recession and grappling with 27 percent unemployment, and the nation's currency and bonds plunged.
The downgrade "reflects Fitch's view that recent political events, including a major cabinet reshuffle, will weaken standards of governance and public finances," the company said. "The reshuffle is likely to undermine, if not reverse, progress in state-owned enterprises' governance, raising the risk that [the enterprises'] debt could migrate onto the government's balance sheet."
Former President Kgalema Motlanthe said in an April 3 interview that Zuma doesn't understand how his actions can influence decisions by rating companies. Motlanthe argued that Zuma's actions showed a "recklessness" that ruined South Africa's credibility.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 04/08/2017