When Children
Turn a New Page
Daniel Henninger
Barack Obama’s
Greatest Triumph
PERSONAL JOURNAL | D1
OPINION | A11
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016 ~ VOL. CCLXVII NO. 75
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expansive post-financial-crisis
safety net. It could embolden
other institutions to file similar
challenges as well as political
critics seeking to curb the
broad discretion given to regulators five years ago.
The Obama administration
criticized the ruling and could
still appeal. But for now, the
decision means MetLife, the
largest U.S. life insurer by as-
BY RYAN TRACY
AND ERIK HOLM
WASHINGTON—MetLife Inc.
won a legal battle over federal
regulators seeking to brand the
insurer a threat to the financial
system and to ramp up government oversight of the company
and its operations.
The federal judge’s ruling
Wednesday deals a blow to the
Business & Finance
M
etLife won a legal battle over federal regulators seeking to brand the insurer a threat to the financial
system and to ramp up oversight of the company. A1, C2
 Fidelity Investments
took an ax to the valuations of its private technology shares in February. B1
sets, has shaken off potential
higher capital requirements
and other restrictions that
came with its December 2014
designation as a “systemically
important financial institution,” or SIFI. Regulators apply
the label to financial giants
whose failure they believe
would threaten the economy,
and it submits them to much
tougher rules on capital and
use of borrowed money to reduce their risks.
Investors cheered the news,
pushing MetLife shares up 5.4%
Wednesday. Shares also rose
about 2% for the insurer’s two
main rivals, Prudential Financial Inc. and American International Group Inc., which have
also been designated systemically important and are expected to consider challenges
 Google has been repeatedly ordered to help U.S.
agents open cellphones, according to court records. B1
 Many pension funds, insurers and university endowments are pulling back
from hedge funds. C1
YEN 112.44
to that designation following
MetLife’s successful legal challenge, said people familiar with
the matter.
Defenders of the 2010 DoddFrank Act that gave regulators
the powers to expand their
oversight of MetLife warned of
Please see METLIFE page A2
 MetLife and Dodd-Frank
backlash......................................... C2
BY REID J. EPSTEIN
AND JANET HOOK
 China’s biggest banks
posted their lowest profit
growth in a decade. C1
 Valeant said it is seeking
more room from lenders to
stave off a potential default. C3
 The Dow rose 83.55 points
to 17716.66 as tech shares
led U.S. stocks higher. C4
 A jury found a GM ignition switch “unreasonably
dangerous” but stopped short
of awarding damages. B3
 Twentieth Century Fox has
told theater owners it would
no longer grant requests for
exclusive screening rights. B6
NEW ERA: Htin Kyaw, second from right, a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, right, was sworn in as president. Ms. Suu Kyi will head four ministries. A8
U.S. TERROR-FINANCE RULES
DRIVE MONEY UNDERGROUND
 PepsiCo said the head
of Frito-Lay North America
is leaving the company. B6
World-Wide
 Malaysian investigation
documents in a 1MDB
probe show accounts of
Prime Minister Najib paid
out $15 million for clothes,
jewelry and a car. A1
 Federal regulators issued new recommendations
on drug-induced abortions
that may make it easier for
women in some states to
obtain the procedure. A3
 Trump reversed on remarks about punishing
women for obtaining abortions if the procedure were
outlawed, after the comments sparked a backlash. A6
 Hollande abandoned a
plan to amend France’s constitution to strengthen his
hand in fighting terrorism. A9
 Belgium’s interior minister
said that the nation had
been cutting its security
budget for too long. A9
 The Supreme Court ruled
prosecutors can’t freeze assets someone needs to hire a
lawyer unless the funds are
linked to the alleged crime. A3
 Argentina’s Senate approved a plan to end a
long-running legal dispute
with U.S. hedge funds. A14
 Myanmar’s new president
pledged to amend the militarydrafted constitution to meet
“democratic standards.” A8
 Thailand’s junta gave the
army sweeping policing
powers to arrest and hold
criminal suspects. A8
In the Markets....... C4
Opinion............... A11-13
Sports.......................... D6
Style & Travel.... D2-4
U.S. News............. A2-3
Weather..................... B5
World News. A8-9,14
>
s Copyright 2016 Dow Jones &
Company. All Rights Reserved
EURO $1.1339
Wisconsin
Looms as
Key Test
For Trump
Myanmar Ends More Than Half a Century of Military Rule
 Foxconn will buy Sharp for
an initial payment of $3.5 billion, nearly $2.5 billion lower
than its original proposal. B1
CONTENTS
Arts in Review...... D5
Business News. B2-3,5-6
Crossword................. B5
Election 2016..... A4,6
Global Finance........ C3
Heard on Street.... C8
HHHH $3.00
Judge Curbs Oversight of MetLife
What’s
News
AUNG SHINE OO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
BILLY DELFS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
P2JW091000-6-A00100-1--------XA
Banks are evicting from the financial system those the government most wants to watch
BY ROB BARRY AND RACHEL LOUISE ENSIGN
Bank Tellers
OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN—The
carry-on bags in the luggage bin above seat
7G on a recent U.S. flight to Dubai contained thousands of bills—$20s, $50s and
$100s, all neatly wrapped in rubber bands
and plastic.
The cash was carried aboard by Abdi
Warsame, a Somali immigrant and an employee of a Midwestern money-transfer
company that was shut out of the international banking system last year. The firm
now ferries cash by hand.
The bills have since disappeared from the
U.S. financial system. After arriving in
Dubai, they entered an opaque network of
trade, loans and remittances that fans
across eastern Africa and the Middle East.
U.S. banks have closed thousands of ac-
Suspicious activity reports filed
by financial institutions on their
customers.
2015
2.0 million
1.9 million
1.5
1.0
1996
0.5 62,473
0
1996
2000
’10
’15
Source: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
It’s the Real Thing: Spoonfuls
Of Sugar Help the Soda Go Down
i
i
i
Consumer thirst for ‘natural’ ingredients
gives new jolt to an old sweetener
BY ANNE MARIE CHAKER
Soft-drink makers have a
new way to pitch their sweet
beverages: They contain sugar.
Boylan Bottling Co.’s line of
a dozen soda flavors touts
“cane sugar”
in capital letters on the label.
Puck’s
fountain sodas, available
at restaurant
chains in Los
Angeles and
Washington,
D.C., say they are made with
“bagged sugar from cane.”
This week, PepsiCo is rolling out a line of soda the company says is inspired by the
original cola formula created
by its founder in 1893. Cans
list “real sugar” among the ingredients. New television ads
to launch next week will fea-
ture a sommelier in a leather
chair swirling the soft drink in
a brandy glass before chugging
it. “Refined,” he says.
The goal for soda companies is to spritz up fizzling
soft-drink sales. The appeal:
Sugar is natural.
“If you had
asked me a few
years ago, people were moving to diet sodas. Now they
view real sugar
as good for
you,” PepsiCo’s chief executive
Indra Nooyi told investors in a
conference call last year. “They
are willing to go to organic
non-GMO products even if it
has high salt, high sugar, high
fat.”
In grocery stores, new types
of sweeteners are flooding the
Please see SUGAR page A6
counts held by people and organizations considered suspicious, high-risk or difficult to
monitor—including money-transfer firms, foreign banks and nonprofits working abroad.
Closing accounts for fear their customers may
be up to no good evicts from the financial
system the innocent as well as those the U.S.
government would most like to watch, a consequence not anticipated by Washington.
Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry
this month acknowledged the potential danger. “Transactions that would have taken
place legally and transparently may be driven
underground,” he told an international conference of bankers and regulators in Washington.
With parallels to the way telecommunications companies have aided the National Security Agency, banks and other financial instiPlease see CASH page A10
Malaysian
Leader Spent
Millions on
Luxury Items
BY TOM WRIGHT
AND BRADLEY HOPE
HONOLULU,
Hawaii—On
Christmas Eve 2014, Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak
stepped onto Hawaii’s 18-hole
Kaneohe Klipper course for a
round of golf diplomacy with
U.S. President Barack Obama.
Off the fairways, another side
of Mr. Najib’s time in office was
on display. Two days earlier, the
prime minister’s credit card was
charged $130,625 to Chanel in
Honolulu, according to Malaysian investigation documents. A
person who works at a Chanel
store in the upscale Ala Moana
Center recalls Mr. Najib’s wife
shopping there just before
Christmas.
The credit card was paid
from one of several private bank
accounts owned by Mr. Najib
that global investigators believe
Please see NAJIB page A8
ROTHSCHILD, Wis.—Wisconsin’s presidential primary
next Tuesday represents the
biggest test yet of Donald
Trump’s ability to triumph
over Republican state leaders
united against him.
Top Wisconsin GOP players,
from Gov. Scott Walker to
state legislators to the powerful conservative Milwaukee
talk-radio hosts, have been
winning pitched battles in defense of conservative ideas
since Republicans took over
state government in 2011.
They are united against Mr.
Trump in a way he hasn’t seen
before, even in states where
he faced millions of dollars in
attack ads.
The anti-Trump forces have
largely aligned with Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz, who vaulted to the
lead in a statewide poll released
Wednesday. That has left Mr.
Trump flat-footed in his first entry into Wisconsin politics. He
appeared surprised during a
round of radio interviews, telling Charlie Sykes in Milwaukee
that he didn’t know the host had
vowed never to support him.
If the GOP forces keep Mr.
Trump from winning more than
a handful of the state’s 42 delegates, they would hamper his
argument that he’s the party’s
consensus choice and damage
his path to the 1,237 delegates
Please see RACE page A4
 Clinton steps up outreach
to African-Americans...... A4
 Sanders strategy targets
superdelegates................... A4
 Trump’s abortion stance
sparks flare-up, reversal... A6
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