Week of May 4 - 10, 2026

🗓️ May 4, 2026

• SEC Announces Dismissal of Civil Enforcement Action Against Neil R. Cole. the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in connection with the Commission’s civil enforcement action against Neil R. Cole. As stated in the notice of dismissal, “The Commission’s decision to seek dismissal of this enforcement action is an exercise of its discretion and does not necessarily reflect the Commission’s position on any other case.” 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Staff Issues Supplemental Letter Regarding No-Action Position on Reporting, Recordkeeping Requirements. Washington - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk have taken a no-action position regarding swap data reporting and recordkeeping regulations for Railbird Exchange, LLC, and Bitnomial Clearinghouse, LLC. They will not recommend enforcement action against these entities or their participants for non-compliance with certain swap-related requirements. Additionally, the supplemental letter removes the condition in CFTC Letter No. 25-26 that prohibited Railbird’s participants from clearing contracts through a third-party clearing member, following a request from Railbird and Bitnomial. 🔗 Read more
• ESMA advances the simplification of EU reporting frameworks for funds and transactions. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a harmonised approach to funds and transaction reporting to streamline processes across European markets, aiming to reduce operational burdens and improve data quality. ESMA’s strategy involves a common EU reporting framework for funds, with data validation and analytics at the EU level, and a hybrid model for data collection. For transaction reporting, ESMA is considering instrument-based and dual-side simplifications and a “report once” framework, with further engagement planned before final recommendations are made. 🔗 Read more
  

🗓️ May 5, 2026

• SEC Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance Issue Staff Guidance Supporting Retirement Plans for Small Businesses. Washington D.C. - Staff in the SEC’s Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance issued guidance on the application of federal securities laws to pooled employer plans (PEPs), which were created by the SECURE Act of 2019 to help small businesses provide retirement plans. The guidance allows PEPs to use existing exemptions for tax-qualified ERISA retirement plans and use a Form S-8 registration statement for offering securities. SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda emphasized that this clarity supports small businesses and expands retirement options for American workers. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Proposes Amendments to Permit Optional Semiannual Reporting by Public Companies. Washington D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rule and form amendments allowing public companies to file semiannual reports instead of quarterly ones, using a new Form 10-S. This change would enable companies to choose the reporting frequency that best suits their needs, filing one semiannual and one annual report per fiscal year. The proposal includes a filing deadline of 40 or 45 days after the first semiannual period and aims to provide increased regulatory flexibility, with a public comment period open for 60 days after publication. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Obtains Final Consent Judgment in Alleged Investment Fraud Scheme that Targeted U.S. Navy Veterans and Active Duty Service Members. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a final judgment against Robert L. Murray, Jr., a former U.S. Navy chief petty officer, for engaging in a fraudulent investment scheme targeting U.S. Navy service members. Murray, acting as an unregistered investment adviser, raised nearly $355,000 from about 44 investors by selling unregistered securities, misappropriating nearly 42% of the funds for personal expenses. The judgment permanently enjoins him from violating several securities laws and orders him to pay disgorgement of $112,271.71, which will be satisfied by a restitution order in a parallel criminal case. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Obtains Final Judgment as to Investment Adviser and his Entity in Alleged Unregistered Oil and Gas Offerings. The United States District Court for the Central District of California entered final judgments against David P. Ortiz and DaveGlo Investment Group, Inc., for selling unregistered oil and gas securities and acting as unregistered brokers. The SEC’s complaint alleged Ortiz marketed $18 million in investments to 20 retail investors, using mass marketing and receiving over $800,000 in compensation. The judgments permanently enjoined them from further violations and ordered them to pay disgorgement, interest, and a civil penalty, with the investigation and litigation led by SEC officials Brian Fitzsimons, David Frisof, Rachel Yeates, and others. 🔗 Read more
• FDIC Issues List of Banks Examined for CRA Compliance. Washington - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has released a list of state nonmember banks evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in February 2026. The CRA, a 1977 law, mandates the FDIC to assess a bank’s efforts in meeting the credit needs of its community, including low- and moderate-income areas, while ensuring safe operations. Public disclosure of these evaluations has been required since July 1, 1990, and can be accessed from the FDIC’s Public Information Center or directly from the banks. 🔗 Read more
• EIOPA seeks feedback on draft technical advice regarding minimum common standards for insurance guarantee schemes across the EU. The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has launched a public consultation on its draft technical advice for minimum common standards for insurance guarantee schemes (IGS) in the EU. This advice aims to address the varying levels of protection for policyholders due to inconsistent national schemes and the absence of such schemes in some countries, particularly in cross-border cases. The proposals focus on four main policy areas: the impact of harmonized IGSs, operational functioning, funding conditions, and interaction with the IRRD, with the goal of strengthening policyholder protection and supporting the Single Market and Savings and Investments Union. 🔗 Read more
• ESMA consults on a new simplified approach to updating MMF stress test parameters. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on updating stress test scenario parameters under the Money Market Funds framework. ESMA proposes replacing annual amendments to Section 5 of the Guidelines with an annual web-based publication of calibration parameters to simplify updates and improve accessibility. This approach aims to reduce compliance and supervisory burdens, aligning with ESMA’s Simplification and Burden Reduction (SBR) initiative. 🔗 Read more
  

🗓️ May 6, 2026

• SEC Charges 21 Individuals with Alleged Wide-Reaching Insider Trading Scheme. Washington D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 21 individuals for their involvement in a decade-long insider trading scheme involving misappropriated information from global law firms, resulting in millions of dollars in illicit profits. Nicolo Nourafchan and Robert Yadgarov allegedly orchestrated the scheme, tipping material nonpublic information about corporate transactions to others who traded and shared profits. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced parallel criminal charges. 🔗 Read more
• SEC Charges 21 Individuals with Alleged Wide-Reaching Insider Trading Scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against 21 individuals for an insider trading scheme involving misappropriated information from global law firms, resulting in millions of dollars in illicit profits. Orchestrated by attorney Nicolo Nourafchan and Robert Yadgarov between 2018 and 2024, the scheme involved tipping material nonpublic information about corporate transactions to others, who then traded on it. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced parallel criminal charges. 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Orders New York Trader to Pay $200,000 for Spoofing. Washington - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced charges against Sidney Lebental for spoofing while trading treasury futures on the Chicago Board of Trade. Lebental, a dual French and American citizen, must pay a $200,000 penalty, is banned from trading commodity interests for one month, and must stop violating the spoofing prohibition. The order found he engaged in spoofing on about 50 occasions from January to September 2019 by placing genuine orders to execute on one side of the order book while entering spoof orders on the opposite side, which he canceled once his genuine orders were filled. 🔗 Read more
• CPMI-IOSCO publishes for Consultation updated guidance and public disclosures to implement initial margin proposals. CPMI-IOSCO is seeking input from interested stakeholders on proposed amendments to CCP-related resilience guidance and public quantitative disclosure requirements. The proposed amendments incorporate relevant proposals from the BCBS-CPMI-IOSCO final report on Transparency and responsiveness of initial margin in centrally cleared markets and address simulation tools, measurement of initial margin responsiveness, margin model governance, margin model overrides, and CCP public disclosures. Comments are invited by 30 June 2026. 🔗 Read more
• ESMA promotes proportionate supervision of MiFID II sustainability requirements. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has released a statement on the results of its Common Supervisory Action regarding the integration of sustainability into firms’ suitability assessments and product governance processes. Key themes include the handling of clients’ sustainability preferences, product categorization and matching, the portfolio approach, and target market assessment. ESMA emphasizes the importance of sustainability, encourages continued implementation of MiFID II requirements, and suggests a proportionate supervisory approach by national authorities, focusing on dialogue during the transition period. 🔗 Read more
  

🗓️ May 7, 2026

• The EBA consults on amendments to the RTS on the assignment of risk weights to specialised lending exposures under the Supervisory Slotting Criteria Approach. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has launched a public consultation on proposed amendments to its Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) regarding the assignment of risk weights to specialised lending exposures under the Supervisory Slotting Criteria Approach (SSCA). These amendments aim to update the RTS in response to changes in the revised Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR 3), enhancing risk sensitivity, clarity, and usability to ensure consistent prudential treatment across the EU. The consultation will be open until 7 August 2026, and the amendments align with CRR3 definitions, remove certain constraints, and introduce clarifications to simplify application. 🔗 Read more
• The EBA amends Guidelines on the definition of default. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a final Report amending the Guidelines on the definition of default, introducing targeted amendments to better reflect non-recourse factoring, such as extending the past-due treatment of individual invoices from 30 to 90 days. The Report confirms that the 1% NPV threshold for debt restructuring remains appropriate for prudential default recognition, as it is flexible, risk-sensitive, and consistent with the accounting framework, without leading to default misclassifications. The EBA warns that increasing the NPV threshold could undermine efforts to reduce non-performing loans, incur significant operational costs, and weaken the banking sector’s resilience. 🔗 Read more
• Euro area financial integration improves despite persistent fragmentation, ECB report shows. Financial integration in the euro area has strengthened since late 2022, with increased cross-border activity in debt markets and interbank lending, supported by lower dispersion in asset prices and EU-level policy initiatives. However, equity market integration is declining, affecting investment and competitiveness, as cross-border equity investment stagnates and a significant portion of equity investment is directed outside the EU. The report highlights the need for advancing integration, scale, and efficiency across the single market to improve the competitiveness of the euro area’s financial sector. 🔗 Read more
• ESMA outlines enforcement activities for corporate reporting across the EEA in 2025. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its Report on 2025 Corporate reporting enforcement and regulatory activities, detailing the supervision of corporate reporting across the European Economic Area (EEA) during 2025. The report highlights the enforcement of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for the first time and emphasizes digital reporting as a priority, aiming to enhance the quality and usability of financial information in ESEF. It provides practical insights for issuers, auditors, and investors to improve the quality and transparency of corporate reporting, assessing compliance with ESMA’s 2024 European Common Enforcement Priorities (ECEP). 🔗 Read more
  

🗓️ May 8, 2026

• Federal Reserve Board announces approval of related applications by Columbia Bank MHC, and Columbia Financial, Inc. The Federal Reserve Board approved applications by Columbia Bank MHC and Columbia Financial, Inc., both based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. These approvals enable Columbia Financial, Inc. to become a savings and loan holding company by acquiring Columbia Bank and Northfield Bancorp, Inc., which indirectly includes Northfield Bank in Staten Island, New York. 🔗 Read more
• CFTC Issues Proposed Rule to Modify Clearing Requirement for Canadian Dollar- and Mexican Peso-Denominated Interest Rate Swaps. Washington - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has proposed changes to its swap clearing requirements, specifically updating the swaps that must be cleared to include Canadian dollar and Mexican peso-denominated interest rate swaps referencing overnight rates, while removing those referencing CDOR and TIIE. The proposal amends CFTC Regulation 50.4(a) to adjust termination date ranges and remove certain swaps from the fixed-to-floating swap class, and updates Regulation 50.25(b) to reflect new compliance dates. A 30-day comment period will follow the proposal’s publication in the Federal Register. 🔗 Read more
• AUSTRAC steps up supervision of virtual assets sector as reforms take effect. AUSTRAC has initiated two supervisory campaigns targeting Australia’s virtual assets sector, focusing on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and local exchanges, as new anti-money laundering reforms take effect. The campaigns aim to enhance anti-money laundering risk management by engaging with 36 crypto businesses involved in over-the-counter services and 27 local exchanges, emphasizing reform readiness and governance improvements. The reforms introduce the term VASP, replacing DCE, and expand obligations to a broader range of crypto-related products, reflecting the sector’s evolution and ensuring regulatory relevance. 🔗 Read more

🗓️ May 10, 2026

• European Central Bank and Reserve Bank of India sign Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, and Sanjay Malhotra, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in central banking. This updated MoU, signed during the Bank for International Settlements meetings in Basel, establishes a framework for regular information exchange, policy dialogue, and technical cooperation, including joint seminars and workshops. Lagarde emphasized the importance of sustaining global cooperation through this continued dialogue with the RBI. 🔗 Read more