Mulling mandates; Barclays’ bounce; a deal on the deal; cybersecurity surge; and more!

Delays, More Masks and Mandatory Shots: Virus Surge Disrupts Office-Return Plans [NYT]
Goldman Sachs is considering whether to reinstitute testing for fully vaccinated employees in the company’s New York City offices, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because nothing had been decided…. When companies began announcing tentative return-to-office plans this spring, there was a sense of optimism behind the messages. Covid cases were dwindling in the United States as the vaccine rollout picked up pace….
In recent days, that tone has suddenly shifted. The Delta variant, a more contagious version of the coronavirus, is sweeping through the country. Fewer than half of Americans are fully vaccinated, exacerbating the situation…. For employers wary of the legal ramifications and political backlash of mandating a vaccine, the tide has begun to turn, if ever so slightly.

Barclays Overtakes Credit Suisse in Investment Banking [WSJ]
The London-based bank vaulted past its Zurich-based counterpart to be the largest investment bank outside the U.S. in the second quarter of this year with $1.26 billion of investment banking revenue, representing a 4.1% market share, according to Dealogic. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was the top investment bank during the quarter with $3.15 billion of revenue, a 10.1% market share.
Inside Barclays, executives say the collapses of key Credit Suisse clients Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital have disrupted the investment banking landscape.

Insurance brokers Aon and Willis Towers Watson scrap their $30 billion merger [CNBC via Reuters]
“Despite regulatory momentum around the world, including the recent approval of our combination by the European Commission, we reached an impasse with the U.S. Department of Justice,” Aon Chief Executive Officer Greg Case said in a statement.

Senators hopeful bipartisan infrastructure spending bill could land Monday [NBC News]
"We're about 90 percent of the way there," Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said on ABC News' "This Week." "I feel good about getting that done this week."
Congress faces crunch time, with only two workweeks left before the scheduled August recess, a self-imposed deadline for lawmakers to finish wrangling the infrastructure bill and a separate massive spending package that would address the social safety net.

As Cyberattacks Surge, Security Start-Ups Reap the Rewards [NYT]
Investors have poured more than $12.2 billion into start-ups that sell products and services such as cloud security, identify verification and privacy protection so far this year. That exceeds the $10.4 billion that cybersecurity companies raised in all of 2020 and is more than double the $4.8 billion raised in 2016, according to the research firm PitchBook…. The breaches have fueled concerns among companies and governments, leading to increased spending on security products. Worldwide spending on information security and related services is expected to reach $150 billion this year, up 12 percent from a year ago….

A Space Company’s Wall Street Launch Misfires [WSJ]
Had the company, Momentus Inc., filed for a traditional initial public offering, the bankers working on the deal could be liable for any misleading statements to investors. But it didn’t. It is attempting to go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company—a route that doesn’t require bankers to do full due diligence on the business breaking into public markets…. Stable Road didn’t start its review of Momentus until a month before the merger was announced in October 2020, and a consultant hired by Stable Road to review Momentus’s technology didn’t evaluate the result of the test mission, the SEC said.