Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin expressed optimism about inflation’s progress but said the fight wasn’t over, citing potential risks that could stoke price pressures.

“We’re definitely headed in the right direction,” Barkin said Thursday at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, hosted by the Virginia Maritime Association. “I wouldn’t declare victory on it,” he added.

Asked about factors that could cause inflation to be sticky, Barkin cited conflicts in the Middle East and a possible rise in housing demand that could outstrip supply as the Fed lowers interest rates.

Still, he added, “I don’t want the number of things that could happen to stall our progress on inflation to fuzz up the fact that we actually have made a lot of progress.”

Recent data has painted a picture of a resilient economy with price pressures easing overall.

That data also followed stronger-than-expected employment for September, when brisk hiring caused the unemployment rate to fall. That tamed fears the Fed had been slow to address potential risks to the labor market, which had cooled in recent months but remained solid overall.

Social Security benefits are set to increase by 2.5% in 2025

Older Americans will see an increase in benefits this January when a new cost-of-living adjustment is added to Social Security payments.

The 2.5% raise is intended to help meet higher prices for food, fuel, and other goods and services. The average recipient will see an increase of about $50 per month, according to agency officials. Social Security recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, and some retirees are concerned that this year’s increase is not big enough to meet their needs.

The Social Security Administration will begin notifying recipients about their new benefit amount by mail starting in early December.

Adjusted payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on Dec. 31.

TD Bank ordered to pay $3B in money-laundering settlement

Canada-based TD Bank will pay approximately $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities, who said Thursday that the financial institution’s lax practices allowed significant money laundering over multiple years.

The bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the largest bank in U.S. history to do so, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

“TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish,” Garland said. “By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.”

High-level executives were alerted to serious problems with the bank’s anti-money laundering program, but failed to correct them as employees openly joked about how easy it seemed to be for criminals to launder money there, Garland said.

The bank is the 10th-largest in the United States, and its CEO said the company takes full responsibility and has been cooperating with the investigation. It’s been taking steps to fix its U.S. anti-money laundering program, including appointing new leadership and adding hundreds of new specialists, said TD Bank Group CEO Bharat Masrani.

Marriott International to pay $52M to resolve data breaches

Marriott International has agreed to pay $52 million and make changes to bolster its data security to resolve state and federal claims related to major data breaches that affected more than 300 million of its customers worldwide.

The Federal Trade Commission and a group of attorneys general from 49 states and the District of Columbia announced the terms of separate settlements with Marriott on Wednesday. The FTC and the states ran parallel investigations into three data breaches, which took place from 2014 to 2020.

The FTC claimed that Marriott and subsidiary Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s poor data security practices led to the breaches.

Specifically, the agency alleged that the hotel operator failed to secure its computer system with appropriate password controls, network monitoring or other practices to safeguard data.

As part of its proposed settlement with the FTC, Marriott agreed to provide all of its U.S. customers with a way to request that any personal information associated with their email address or loyalty rewards account number be deleted.

Compiled from Bloomberg and Associated Press reports.