Chinese hackers have stolen tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. COVID relief benefits since 2020, the Secret Service said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Secret Service declined to provide any additional details but confirmed a report by NBC News that said that the Chinese hacking team that is reportedly responsible is known within the security research community as APT41 or Winnti. APT41 is a prolific cybercriminal group that had conducted a mix of government-backed cyber intrusions and financially motivated data breaches, according to experts.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce said on Friday it would appeal a New York court's ruling in a lawsuit brought against the bank by an entity of U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, Reuters reported. Cerberus had alleged that CIBC defaulted on certain payments and is seeking damages of $1.067 billion. CIBC said it had satisfied all its obligations. The court issued a liability ruling against the lender, but has not determined how much it will have to pay. The parties will get to present arguments on the damages at a hearing on Dec. 19, CIBC said.

The company behind the tether stablecoin has increasingly been lending its own coins to customers rather than selling them for hard currency upfront, the Wall Street Journal reported. The shift adds to risks that the company may not have enough liquid assets to pay redemptions in a crisis. Tether Holdings Ltd. says it lends only to eligible customers and requires that borrowers post lots of “extremely liquid” collateral, which could be sold for dollars if borrowers default. These loans have appeared for several quarters in the financial reports that Tether shows on its website.

The Japanese subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto empire FTX has put together a draft plan for clients to withdraw funds, in what would be one of the rare cases of investors getting money back from the collapsed exchange, Bloomberg News reported. The proposal, which has yet to be finalized, centers on using a platform called Liquid to facilitate the return of assets starting in January. Bankman-Fried’s sprawling tangle of FTX group companies slid into a chaotic bankruptcy on Nov.

Royal Bank of Canada, which just struck its largest deal ever to expand in its home market, is getting a boost from its dominant position in the country’s retail banking landscape at a time when rising rates are making lending more profitable, Bloomberg News reported. Net interest income rose 24% to C$6.28 billion ($4.64 billion) in the fiscal fourth quarter, the Toronto-based company said Wednesday. Overall profit topped analysts’ estimates in the three months through October.

As French President Emmanuel Macron makes the rounds in Washington starting Wednesday for the first state visit of the Biden administration, high on his agenda are his plans for a nuclear energy “renaissance.” His entourage includes the major players from France’s nuclear energy industry, who will be looking to the French leader to help boost the development and export of their technology, including smaller and more versatile reactors, the Washington Post reported. But there could hardly be a more awkward time to promote French nuclear know-how.

Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., has exited the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) restructuring process that followed its insolvency in February 2021, CBC reported. The university has continued to operate while dealing with its financial problems. Under the restructuring, it cut 76 programs in April 2021. As well, nearly 200 staff and faculty members lost their jobs. The CCAA was created for commercial enterprises to help them restructure after an insolvency.

Canada's economy performed much better than expected in the third quarter, but an early indication that growth stalled in the fourth quarter could prompt the Bank of Canada next week to slow its campaign to hike interest rates, Reuters reported. Canada's economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.9% in the third quarter, above expectations, while GDP most likely was unchanged in October after a 0.1% gain in September, Statistics Canada data showed on Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected third-quarter annualized growth of 1.5% and a gain of 0.1% in September.

The Canadian Labour Congress is welcoming new legislation protecting workers’ pensions in case their employer declares bankruptcy or insolvency, HRReporter.com reported. “For decades we have seen companies pay out creditors, even pay out bonuses to executives, after declaring bankruptcy, while workers wait at the back of the line. We are glad to finally see workers being prioritized over banks and CEOs in bankruptcies situations,” says Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).