Finance
Sen. Whitehouse: Climate change could crash the financial system
The Hill reported earlier this month on how opaque decisions within the insurance industry were laying the groundwork for where Americans will live as the planet heats.
But the risk goes beyond that, many experts warn: The complex interrelationships between insurance, mortgage lending and the broader financial system have made climate change “an emerging risk to financial stability,” according to the 2023 report by the Financial Stability Oversight Committee.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has been a principal voice warning of the financial risks spilling over as climate change impacts the insurance industry.
Sen. Whitehouse sat down with The Hill to discuss why he worries climate change poses risk to the global financial system and the role of the Senate in addressing it.
Q: Some experts warn about the potential of Great Recession-style systemic risk from climate insurance — but others argue that, however serious that risk might be, it’s fundamentally a regional issue, restricted to places like Florida. Which side of that do you come down on?
Whitehouse: There are very significant indicators and it’s going to be big, national, and even global. A number of studies show a very high risk to the world economy from calamities — and insurance is at the heart of that.
The Florida insurance market is more or less circling the drain right now in the way in which Freddie Mac’s chief economist predicted: that with the danger of sea level rise and coastal storm activity, coastal properties become increasingly expensive to insure and then they become uninsurable.
And once they become uninsurable, they become unmortgageable. And once buyers can’t get mortgages for those properties, the values crash — because you’ll now only have cash buyers on the demand side.
And that was predicted by Freddie Mac to produce a systemic nationwide economic shock, akin to or greater than the [2008] mortgage meltdown.
Q: So to push back on that a bit, the mortgage industry would say, even if the Florida coast becomes uninsurable, it’s still a regional problem — however serious it might be.
Whitehouse. The problem with that is that the sea levels and storm risk aren’t just increasing in Florida.
You’re seeing it through South Texas. You’re seeing it in the Louisiana and Atlantic coast. Florida is getting first and worst because it has so much coast and a sketchy insurance market. But Florida would just be the leading edge of a problem that would hit coasts all around the United States.
And you now have [flooding’s] evil twin, wildfire risk. Once you get away from the coast and out particularly to the west and to areas where wildfire risk is no longer either temporally or geographically predictable.
Q: For the Senate Budget Committee — what legislative intervention could help defray some of that risk?
Whitehouse: I mean, obviously, solving the climate problem would put a huge amount of this risk out under better control.
When we’re looking at federal debt, a third of it — a whole third — was produced by unexpected shocks, like [the mortgage crisis of] 2008, and by COVID.
And there’s every reason to believe that the shock of an insurance and property values crash from coastal and wildfire risk would be worse than those.
The thing about these climate [risks], is that unlike 2008 — where there’s panic and economic crash, the bottom falls out of markets, but then the values return. [But] if the underlying risk is that the property is going to be underwater, or that the house is going to burn four or five times during the course of a 30-year mortgage, then that [risk] that doesn’t go away. So there isn’t a rebound.
That’s what makes it so dangerous.
Finance
Canadian and UK finance groups pause new ventures with DP World over CEO’s emails with Epstein
Financial groups in Canada and the United Kingdom said they’ve paused future ventures with the company DP World after newly released emails showed a yearslong friendship between the company’s CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, and Jeffrey Epstein.
The emails — some referencing porn, sexual massages and escorts — surfaced in the cache of Epstein-related documents recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice. DP World is a logistics giant that runs the Jebel Ali port in Dubai and operates terminals in other ports around the world.
Sulayem, its chairman and CEO, made headlines this week when U.S. officials appeared to associate him with an email in which Epstein wrote, “I loved the torture video.”
In response to the released emails, British International Investment, the UK’s development finance agency, said they “will not be making any new investments with DP World until the required actions have been taken by the company.” One of Canada’s largest pension funds, La Caisse, gave a similar statement.
Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 after he was charged with sex trafficking. The emails do not appear to implicate Sulayem in Epstein’s alleged crimes. DP World has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
What’s in the ‘torture video’ email?
In 2009, Epstein wrote in an email, “where are you? are you ok , I loved the torture video.”
The recipient, whose email was redacted, replied, “I am in china I will be in the US 2nd week of may.”
On Monday, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie posted a picture of the redacted emails on X, saying “A Sultan seems to have sent this” and that the Justice Department should “make this public.”
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded to Massie’s post that “the Sultan’s name is available unredacted in the files” and cited another document that names “Sultan Bin Sulayem.”
What have La Caisse and British International Investment said?
La Caisse said in an statement that it’s pausing new “capital deployment” with DP World. “We have made it clear to the company that we expect it to shed light on the situation and take the necessary actions.”
British International Investment said through a spokesperson that they “are shocked by the allegations emerging in the Epstein files regarding Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.”
Neither organization is an investor in DP World, but they both have invested alongside the company in port projects around the world.
What do the emails between Epstein and Sulayem say?
The topics range widely, including President Donald Trump, sex and theology.
In one email from 2013, Epstein wrote to Sulayem that “you are one of my most trusted friends in very sense of the word, you have never let me down.”
In response, Sulayem said, “Thank you my friend I am off the sample a fresh 100% female Russian at my yacht.”
That same year, Sulayem sent Epstein an email showing a menu for a massage business which included sexual offerings. Two years later, Sulayem texted Epstein a link to a porn site, and, in 2017, Epstein sent Sulayem a link to an escort website.
Epstein e-mailed with Sulayem about Steve Bannon, the Trump acolyte, in 2018, saying “you will like him.” In another exchange, Sulayem asked Epstein about an event where it appeared Trump would be in attendance.
“Do you think it will be possible to shake hand with trump,” Sulayem asked.
Epstein replied: “Call to discuss.”
Who is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem?
He’s chairman and CEO of logistics giant DP World, which has long been a pillar of Dubai’s economy.
The company runs the city’s sprawling Jebel Ali port and operates cargo terminals in ports around the globe.
Sulayem previously had a larger role as chairman of the Dubai World conglomerate, which at the time included the property developer Nakheel. That company was behind the creation of manmade islands in the shape of palm trees and a map of the world that helped cement Dubai’s status as an up-and-coming global city.
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The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.
HALIFAX COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — The newly appointed director of finance for Halifax County has now resigned from the post, citing comments that she believes are questioning her integrity.
On Monday, supervisors named the school system’s finance director, Dr. Karen Bucklew, to also serve as the county’s interim finance director.
RELATED: Halifax County Schools finance director to assist county as interim finance director
In her resignation letter, Bucklew cites public comments from members of the board and to the media regarding whether serving both entities is a conflict of interest.
The letter lays out her professional and ethical standards, and said the comments have eroded the professional working environment, so she will remain as the school’s finance director only.
Bluespring Wealth Partners has purchased SHP Financial, a firm based in Massachusetts that manages about $2.3bn in assets for mass-affluent and high-net-worth clients.
Financial specifics of the deal remain undisclosed.
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SHP Financial was established in 2003 by Derek L. Gregoire, Matthew C. Peck, and Keith W. Ellis Jr., who began their financial careers together in the insurance sector.
The company employs around 50 staff across three offices in Plymouth, Woburn, and Hyannis. Its team includes seven advisers and 18 other financial services professionals.
The firm is known for providing fiduciary advice and offers services such as its SHP Retirement Road Map, aimed at making retirement planning more accessible to clients.
Peck said: “We are deeply protective of the culture we’ve built over the last two decades and were intentional about choosing a partner we felt could help us fuel SHP’s next stage of growth while helping us remain true to our goals.
“And we found that partner in Bluespring. We believe Bluespring can provide the resources and support needed to grow and invest in our team, while preserving the client experience that defines SHP.”
In 2025, Bluespring added over $6bn in assets under management to its business.
Bluespring president Pradeep Jayaraman commented: “SHP is a team that has already built meaningful scale and is still hungry to grow. That’s what makes this an acceleration story, as opposed to a transition story.
“SHP’s founders are seasoned leaders in the prime of their careers, still deeply engaged in their business, with decades of success yet ahead.
Last month, Bluespring added Coghill Investment Strategies, managing around $600m in assets, to its network.
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