Data and analytics provider Equifax Inc has appointed Mark Begor as chief executive officer, effective 16 April. Begor's experience includes nine years running General Electric's retail credit card business (now Synchrony Financial), as well as serving on FICO's Board of Directors. Begor joins Equifax from Warburg Pincus.  Begor vowed "... most critically, we will continue to invest in and strengthen our IT and data security. As a custodian of consumer and customer information, protecting that data is a central priority for Equifax and for me personally." Begor will succeed Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., who has served as interim chief executive officer of Equifax since September 2017. Environmental groups are pointing the finger at the world's biggest banks, which increased their financing of what the pressure groups call "extreme fossil fuels" by 11 per cent last year. The FT reports projects in tar sands, Artic oil exploration, natural gas and coal mining received US $115 billion in funding last year, led by Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank and JP Morgan Chase. The financing of extreme fossil fuels declined in 2016 after the signing of the Paris climate change accord but has since picked up again. However, although US and Canadian banks increased their funding of such projects, Australian banks are among those that continued to decrease it last year. The departing vice-chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Obama-appointee Thomas Hoenig, has delivered a scathing parting shot warning that a bank-deregulation bill that seeks to relax constraints put in place after the GFC could pose a threat to financial stability. The FT reports that Hoenig took particular aim at plans to loosen capital rules for custody banks. Uber, which has its international HQ in the Netherlands, has applied to the Dutch central bank for an e-money license, under a new subsidiary called "Uber Payments BV", reports Finextra.  In a statement, Uber said: "We are constantly expanding the range of products we offer and improving the experience for those who use our apps. The way we handle payments is an important part of that. An e-money license will enable us to support the continued innovation and growth of our business in Europe by streamlining our payments processes."