Equifax’s ex-CEO Richard Smith will be on the Hill today to address the a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Smith is expected to report that a “widespread breakdown in security safeguards” at his former company helped hackers as they broke into Equifax’s systems – WSJ and Law360

Meanwhile, before the Senate Banking Committee, Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan will be on the hot seat to apologize for the bank’s ongoing sham account scandal and update lawmakers on Wells’ actions since he took the helm from John Stumpf just about a year ago – WSJ and Law360

Let’s circle back tomorrow and see if these dueling testimonies do anything to Bloomberg’s suggestion that Equifax is supplanting Wells as the financial industry’s top villain – Bloomberg

Breakingviews takes on the thorn in central bankers’ side—their apparent inability to do anything about persistently low inflation – NYTimes

GE’s Jeff Immelt is bowing out of his Chair role ahead of schedule as CEO John Flannery takes the full reins at the company – Bloomberg

GM and Ford have made it very clear that they’re not content to let Tesla [missed production goals and all] have all of the electric car fun. Both revealed plans yesterday to “vastly expand” the number of electric cars they’ll bring to the marketplace – NYTimes and Bloomberg and Wired

Even as entire countries are putting the kibosh on cryptocurrencies, the first of Wall Street’s blue-chip lions is considering giving it a go.  Goldman Sachs announced this week that it’s considering a trading operation dedicated to bitcoin and other digital currencies – WSJ and MarketWatch and Bloomberg

Travis Kalanick’s Uber power play last Friday is making for tense moments for the ride-hailing company’s Board of Directors – WSJ

Overwhelmed by the state of global affairs these days? Here’s a little visual respite with some wise old trees. Try it.  You’ll thank me – NYTimes