Global Regulator & Central Bank News Roundup

The Hong Kong Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Securities and Futures Commission have published consultation conclusions confirming that Hong Kong will proceed with standalone licensing regimes for virtual asset advisory service providers and virtual asset management service providers under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance. The regimes will cover virtual asset advice and discretionary management carried on as a business in Hong Kong, as well as active marketing of those services to the Hong Kong public from Hong Kong or overseas. The authorities will not introduce a de minimis threshold for virtual asset management and do not plan a deeming arrangement for existing providers. The advisory regime will apply to advice on acquiring or disposing of virtual assets, including advice delivered through electronic channels, trading signals, copy trading, mirror trading, algorithms and artificial intelligence language models where the substance amounts to virtual asset advice. The management regime will apply where a manager has discretionary power over a portfolio of virtual assets, including funds and discretionary accounts. The authorities confirmed baseline financial resources requirements aligned with the existing securities and futures framework: HKD 100,000 minimum required liquid capital for providers not holding client assets, and HKD 5 million minimum paid-up share capital plus HKD 3 million minimum required liquid capital in other cases. Dual licensees will not face double capital requirements, but will be subject to the highest applicable requirement across their regulated activities and virtual asset services. The regimes will replace the current practice of imposing virtual asset-related terms and conditions on Securities and Futures Ordinance intermediaries for dealing, advisory and management activities. Existing providers will need to obtain the relevant licence or registration by commencement, while licensed corporations and registered institutions currently providing virtual asset advisory or management services will have access to an expedited approval process. The authorities will finalize the legislative proposals with a view to introducing a bill into the Legislative Council in 2026, and the Securities and Futures Commission will separately consult on detailed regulatory requirements.

Securities Commission Malaysia has released revised Equity Guidelines and a response paper following its November 2025 consultation on the market segmentation review. The consultation focused on clarifying the roles of Bursa Malaysia’s public market segments and aligning their listing frameworks with issuer maturity and investor expectations: the MAIN Market as the premier market for larger, more established corporations, and the ACE Market as a market for small and mid-sized corporations that can serve as a stepping-stone to the MAIN Market. For the MAIN Market, the reforms raise the profit test from aggregate after-tax profit of MYR 20 million and most recent year after-tax profit of MYR 6 million to MYR 30 million over the most recent three full financial years and MYR 15 million in the most recent financial year. The framework also removes the uninterrupted profit requirement, requires an unmodified audit opinion with no material uncertainty related to going concern, treats positive operating cash flow as part of the broader assessment of financial health rather than as a mandatory threshold, and allows renewable energy infrastructure projects to be aggregated toward the MYR 500 million infrastructure project corporation test, provided each project has a cost of at least MYR 100 million. For the ACE Market, the response paper reinforces its sponsor-driven model, under which issuers do not need to meet quantitative financial admission criteria and sponsors play a central role in assessing suitability and providing post-listing oversight. ACE Market issuers seeking transfer to the MAIN Market must now have at least two full financial years of post-listing track record before submission, while exemptions from sponsorship and moratorium requirements will be removed where issuers meet MAIN Market quantitative criteria. ACE Market IPOs that include an offer to the general public must also allocate a minimum balloted portion of 5% of enlarged issued shares where enlarged issued share capital is below MYR 200 million, and 2% where it is MYR 200 million or above. The revised Equity Guidelines take effect on 3 June 2026.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has outlined measures to let financial companies use AI more actively for cyber defence against threats from advanced AI models. The main change is a temporary easing of network separation rules for AI and SaaS tools used to assess vulnerabilities and deploy cybersecurity solutions. The temporary easing will be available to 49 financial companies with at least KRW 10 trillion in assets and 1,000 or more regular staff, subject to screening of their cybersecurity management and AI capabilities. Approved firms will receive a one-year no-action letter and must report findings on AI-related cyber threats, anticipated attack risks and effective defence methods. The review process will run in three phases, beginning with about 10 firms expected to complete screening in June-July, followed by 10-20 firms in August-September and the remainder in the fourth quarter. The Financial Security Institute will also support vulnerability checks for firms that do not apply. The Commission will consider fully lifting network separation rules for qualified entities through the financial regulatory sandbox. It will also establish a technology advisory group, strengthen the Financial Security Institute’s AI support function, create an AI cybersecurity research institution and support center, and issue detailed AI cybersecurity guidelines in June 2026.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has finalised a three-tier approach to proportionality in the banking prudential framework, introducing a Most Significant Financial Institution tier for authorised deposit-taking institutions with total assets above AUD 300 billion and raising the Significant Financial Institution threshold from AUD 20 billion to AUD 30 billion. Building on APRA’s existing two-tier approach, the framework responds to the Council of Financial Regulators’ review of small and medium-sized banks by setting clearer, more tailored prudential requirements that reflect differences in size, risk profile and complexity. The reforms seek to formalise existing differentiation in the prudential framework, reduce unnecessary burden for smaller authorised deposit-taking institutions and give growing firms clearer transition arrangements. APRA calibrated the new MSFI threshold at AUD 300 billion, equivalent to around 5 per cent of system assets, while the AUD 30 billion SFI threshold reflects inflation and growth in the banking system since the previous threshold was set. Consultation responses broadly supported the proposals, although some submissions sought a percentage-based MSFI threshold, a higher SFI threshold of AUD 40 billion to AUD 60 billion, or longer minimum implementation periods. APRA retained the dollar-based thresholds as simpler and more transparent, but confirmed it will regularly review the MSFI threshold and may extend the 12-month transition period for an authorised deposit-taking institution moving to a higher tier where circumstances warrant. The changes will take effect from 1 July 2026.

The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has published insights from its reviews of 62 climate statements for reporting periods ending between 31 December 2024 and 30 November 2025, covering the second reporting period under New Zealand’s climate-related disclosures regime. The review found progress in report structure, greenhouse gas emissions disclosures, governance and risk management reporting, and familiarity with the Climate Standards, but identified recurring weaknesses in physical risk disclosures, anticipated impacts, transition planning disclosures, and assurance over greenhouse gas emissions. The main deficiencies involved insufficient explanation of how physical climate hazards translate into risk, including weak links between hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and anticipated impacts. The FMA also found that some data outputs used to assess physical risks may not have been appropriate for the hazards being assessed, which could lead to understated risks or misallocated resources. Other issues included incomplete cross-referencing on the climate-related disclosures register, unexplained inconsistencies between reporting periods, limited disclosure of reliance on offsets, and omissions or errors in assurance reports. For the third year of monitoring, covering reporting periods ending between 31 December 2025 and 30 November 2026, the FMA will continue with a broadly educative and constructive approach. Reviews will focus on the findings in the report and prior entity-specific feedback, with formal feedback letters for more significant issues. Planned support includes a live register of publicly available New Zealand climate hazard data, educational workshops on physical risks, relevant educational material, and more discussion of physical risk assessments in individual feedback meetings.

The Australian Treasury has opened consultation on draft rules and sector codes that would turn the Scams Prevention Framework into detailed operational obligations for regulated banks, digital platforms and telecommunications providers. The framework is intended to require businesses in scam-targeted sectors to take clearer responsibility for preventing, detecting, disrupting and responding to scams, rather than leaving scam losses to be addressed only after consumers have been harmed. The draft rules would clarify which services and entities are covered, how complaints must be handled, and what records regulated entities must keep. For digital platforms, the proposed scope would focus on larger services: a platform provider would generally need group revenue of at least AUD 1 billion, and the relevant platform service would need at least 200,000 average monthly active Australian users, before the digital platform obligations apply. The draft sector codes would then set the substantive conduct expectations. Common obligations would cover governance, staff training, secure systems, brand impersonation controls, consumer awareness, scam reporting, internal dispute resolution and cooperation on multi-party complaints. Sector-specific obligations would require banks to use measures such as payee confirmation, transaction and account monitoring, targeted warnings, payment recall steps and account blocking where scam risks arise. Digital platforms would face proposed user and advertiser verification, pre-publication and ongoing checks for scam advertising, monitoring of suspicious behaviour and content, and removal or suppression of scam material. Telecommunications providers would face obligations directed at scam calls and messages, including customer verification, number-use checks, controls on high-risk telecommunications services, traffic monitoring, message filtering and caller identification controls. The draft rules are proposed to commence on 1 September 2026. The main mandatory obligations in the rules and sector codes are expected to become operative from 31 March 2027. Treasury is also consulting on internal dispute resolution settings that would support streamlined handling of lower-value complaints, expected automatic reimbursement for verified scam losses below AUD 3,000, and equal sharing of liability where more than one regulated entity has breached its Scams Prevention Framework obligations.

The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has outlined Budget 2026 measures to help gas-using businesses reduce natural gas consumption, centred on a Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme that will support up to NZD 1.2 billion of bank lending. Under the scheme, which is expected to open Q3 2026 for three years, the Crown will guarantee 80 percent of each supported loan, with banks expected to pass on lower interest rates, to make fuel switching and efficiency investments more affordable and free up gas supply for other users. Eligibility will be limited to businesses operating in New Zealand that use at least 1,000 gigajoules of gas a year. The scheme will cover investments in energy efficiency, fuel switching and other technologies that reduce piped natural gas use, provided projects cut consumption by at least 15 percent through genuine efficiency gains or fuel switching rather than reduced production. Borrowing will be capped at NZD 50 million per firm. Budget 2026 also allocates NZD 5.9 million to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to provide tailored advice and help build a pipeline of investment-ready projects. Separately, the government announced its intention to pass the Gas Transparency Bill, which would add a regulation-making power to the Gas Act requiring industry participants to disclose critical gas market information to regulators and, in some cases, other market participants.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will consult on the Government’s plan to introduce a prudential levy to help fund the Bank’s regulation and supervision of the financial sector. The levy is intended to shift part of the cost of prudential oversight from taxpayers to regulated financial entities and is estimated to recover around NZD 209 million over four years. The levy will apply to deposit takers, insurers and financial market infrastructure providers. The consultation will cover whether the levy should recover the Bank’s prudential costs in full or in part, the sectoral scope of the levy, and the method for calculating the amount payable by individual regulated entities. The affected population includes 27 registered banks, 14 licensed non-bank deposit takers, 81 licensed insurers and five designated financial market infrastructures. Consultation is expected to run from late July to October 2026. Final Cabinet decisions are planned for early 2027.

South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance announced Cabinet approval of a Foreign Exchange Transactions Act amendment that brings cross-border virtual asset transfer business into the foreign exchange control framework. The amendment will require virtual asset businesses that conduct cross-border transfer services to register in advance with the Minister of Economy and Finance and to report cross-border transfer details through the Bank of Korea's foreign exchange electronic network. The ministry said the changes respond to the growing use of virtual assets in cross-border transactions and the related increase in attempts to evade foreign exchange rules or conduct illegal transactions. Reported data will be shared with the National Tax Service, Korea Customs Service, Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit for use in investigations and other enforcement work. Operators that fail to register or refuse reporting or inspection will face sanctions comparable to those applied to existing foreign exchange business institutions. The amendment is scheduled to be promulgated on June 2 and will take effect six months after promulgation. The ministry also plans follow-on amendments to subordinate rules and further consultation with relevant agencies and industry to support the operation of the information collection, sharing and post-transaction investigation framework.

The European Central Bank’s May 2026 Financial Stability Review finds that euro area financial stability vulnerabilities remain elevated as the war in the Middle East disrupts energy supply, raises inflation risks and clouds the growth outlook. Financial markets have adjusted in an orderly way so far, but stretched asset valuations, concentrated exposures to large US technology and AI-related firms, and compressed credit risk premia leave markets exposed to abrupt repricing. The review identifies three closely linked risk channels. Prolonged geopolitical tensions and fiscal pressures could weaken market sentiment and expose sovereign vulnerabilities, particularly where higher defence spending, energy support measures and debt-servicing costs strain public finances. Non-bank financial institutions could amplify stress through liquidity mismatch, leverage, concentrated holdings and private market exposures, including spillover risks from US private credit. Euro area banks remain profitable, liquid and well capitalised, with return on equity close to 10% in 2025 and direct Middle East exposures around 0.6% of total assets, but could face credit, liquidity and funding pressures through exposures to non-banks and to trade-, energy- and interest-rate-sensitive firms. The ECB says preserving bank resilience remains a macroprudential priority, including maintaining releasable capital buffers and using borrower-based measures to preserve sound lending standards. It also calls for stronger macroprudential and supervisory frameworks for non-bank financial intermediation, improved data on private credit and other opaque markets, and progress on banking union and the savings and investments union while maintaining financial system resilience.

The European Central Bank has published the outcome of the Eurosystem’s consultation on extending T2 operating hours, setting out a phased roadmap focused first on improving liquidity management for instant payments and future continuously operating services such as Pontes and, potentially, the digital euro. The consultation drew responses from 125 entities across 19 countries, representing a large majority of T2 traffic, and found broad support for incremental changes rather than an immediate move to full 24/7 operation. In the short term, the Eurosystem plans three measures: automatic remuneration of excess reserves held overnight in TARGET accounts, including TIPS dedicated cash accounts, from 17 June 2026; rule-based automated liquidity transfers for TIPS accounts using floor and ceiling mechanisms; and, within two years, a short T2 settlement window over most weekends and potentially TARGET closing days to allow liquidity transfers to and from TIPS. The current value dating logic will remain unchanged. Longer-term options include opening central liquidity management close to 24/7, opening RTGS near 24/5, making limited end-of-day cut-off changes of up to two hours, and opening the Eurosystem Collateral Management System at weekends. The Eurosystem plans a second market consultation towards the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027 before deciding which medium- to long-term options to implement.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has launched a consultation on revisions to its guidelines on standardised procedures and messaging protocols between investment firms and professional clients under the Central Securities Depositories Regulation. The proposals align the guidelines with amended settlement discipline requirements and support the EU’s transition to T+1 settlement from 11 October 2027 by requiring allocations and confirmations to be exchanged through standardised electronic, machine-readable communication methods. The revised guidelines would allow firms to document arrangements in any legally binding form, clarify that email or graphical user interfaces may be used only where the content is machine-readable, remove references to oral communication as a regular method, and limit non-electronic methods such as mail, fax or recorded phone calls to documented temporary technical unavailability or service disruption. The proposals would also make the use of international open communication procedures and standards mandatory and delete the existing flexibility allowing professional clients to choose internal or domestic messaging standards. The consultation is open until 7 July 2026. ESMA expects to finalise the guidelines by October 2026 and proposes that they apply from the date the corresponding amendments to the settlement discipline regulatory technical standards enter into application, expected to be 7 December 2026.

De Nederlandsche Bank has published its Spring 2026 Financial Stability Overview, keeping the Dutch financial stability risk picture at an elevated level as geopolitical and economic turbulence continues to drive risks through energy markets, inflation, interest rates, cyber threats and financial market corrections. The report identifies geopolitical tensions and geo-economic fragmentation as the main risk factors, with the Middle East conflict increasing the risk of weaker growth and higher inflation through disruptions to energy supply chains and production networks. The overview also highlights the growing importance of digital and financial resilience. More advanced generative AI models are shortening the time available to address software vulnerabilities, raising expectations for financial institutions to remediate, recover and switch to fallback arrangements quickly. DNB’s stress test indicates that Dutch banks could absorb losses under a prolonged energy market disruption, with the average Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of major Dutch banks falling by around 2 percentage points but remaining above applicable requirements. The report also notes that insurers and pension funds start from a solid position, while the pension transition requires continued monitoring of interest-rate market effects. DNB gives particular attention to private credit and stablecoins. Initial results from a targeted data request show the largest Dutch insurers’ private credit exposure rose to more than EUR 16 billion in 2025, about 8% of invested assets, while the full results for pension funds will follow later in 2026. The report says private credit can reduce dependence on bank financing but requires greater transparency, adequate risk management and internationally coordinated monitoring. Stablecoins have doubled over two years to about USD 300 billion globally, and while direct exposures of financial institutions remain small, further growth could strengthen links to the traditional financial system, including through US Treasury markets and bank deposits. DNB calls for continued monitoring, robust supervision and cross-border coordination, including clearer European arrangements for multi-issuance structures and implementation of international crypto-asset capital standards for banks.

The Iceland Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs has published an expert group report on Iceland’s currency options, finding that the costs of the Icelandic krona are substantial and likely higher on average than the benefits of an independent currency. The report concludes that the krona generally has not supported economic stability except in major shocks and has often amplified rather than dampened the effects of economic shocks. It identifies potential benefits from euro adoption, including lower interest rates, reduced transaction costs, greater stability and improved access to financial markets, while noting that Iceland would give up independent monetary policy and would need to rely more on fiscal policy, labour market adjustment and other macroeconomic tools. The report finds that Iceland has higher macroeconomic, exchange rate and capital flow volatility than comparable Nordic economies, even after institutional reforms following the financial crisis. It also highlights weaker competitiveness trends, including faster unit labour cost growth than in other Nordic countries and employee compensation per hour in 2025 that was 70% above the euro area level. The report says euro adoption could reduce currency risk in trade and finance, lower external financing costs, improve access to euro area financial markets and potentially allow some foreign exchange reserves to be reallocated, but it would also require stronger fiscal discipline, changes to broad-based inflation indexation, careful adaptation of financial supervision and crisis-management arrangements, and reforms to wage-setting norms

Finland's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of the Interior have published the country's 2026 national risk assessment for money laundering and terrorist financing, alongside its first national strategy for countering money laundering, terrorist financing and the evasion and circumvention of targeted financial sanctions. The assessment rates Finland's overall money laundering risk as significant and its terrorist financing risk as moderately significant, with the risk picture driven by cross-border criminal proceeds, hawala-type money transmission, underground banking, crypto-assets and digital services, as well as vulnerabilities in information exchange, expertise and resources. The highest money laundering risks are identified for registered hawala-type money transmitters, crypto-asset service providers and payment service providers, while credit institutions are assessed as a significant risk sector because of the volume of suspicious transactions, international payments and broad use of digital services. For terrorist financing, the highest-risk sectors are registered hawala-type money transmitters, crypto-asset service providers, credit institutions and payment service providers.

The Financial Supervisory Authority has published findings from a thematic review of Finnish banks’ instant credit transfer services, concluding that the services generally function well but that banks need to strengthen customer communication, payment security controls and fraud prevention practices. The review covered personal customers’ instant and credit transfer services at nine banks and assessed compliance with the EU Instant Payments Regulation, including service availability, execution within the 10-second limit, security limits, verification of payee services and fraud monitoring. The authority called on banks to ensure that funds are returned to the payer if the payee’s bank does not confirm availability to the payee within 10 seconds, and to notify the payer and payment initiation service provider promptly of whether the payment reached the payee’s account within that timeframe. Banks should also provide both transaction-specific and daily security limits for instant transfers, improve communication on the role of limits, strengthen the coverage and reliability of verification of payee services, and present clearer warnings where payee details do not match or the verification service is unavailable. Fraud monitoring should make broader use of customer behaviour indicators, support automatic risk-based blocking of suspicious payments, enable real-time blocking of customer credentials in critical cases and include stronger controls when an authentication app is activated on a new device.

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission has amended its sustainability-related financial disclosure regime to remove the requirement for listed companies to publish such information after an initial voluntary adoption period. The change makes the regime voluntary for listed companies, aligning it more closely with the treatment of investment funds and securitization companies, while retaining the requirement that any entity choosing to publish sustainability-related financial information must comply with CBPS and ISSB standards. Entities that opt into reporting must publish sustainability-related financial information for at least three consecutive financial years. An entity that later decides to stop voluntary reporting must disclose that decision through a market announcement by the filing date for the prior year’s annual financial statements. From January 1, 2027, a listed company that chooses not to file a sustainability report must justify that decision through a market announcement by the date it files its annual financial statements with the CVM. The amendments apply to financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

The Dominican Republic Superintendency of Banks issued a circular requiring all financial institutions to report sex-disaggregated data on financing to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The measure integrates the WE Finance Code into the supervisory framework and is aimed at improving visibility of financing to women-led MSMEs. Financial institutions must report quarterly on the ownership composition of MSME clients, including the percentage held by women, and on the outcomes of credit applications, including approvals, rejections and reasons for rejection. The first submission will cover the period ending September 30, 2026. The measure follows a voluntary implementation process that began in 2023, supported by IDB Invest and the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic, and currently includes 26 signatory financial institutions representing about 97% of the Dominican financial system’s assets. The Superintendency, the Association of Multiple Banks of the Dominican Republic and the Inter-American Development Bank Group also agreed a roadmap for the rest of the year, including the first report of disaggregated indicators to the OECD. IDB Invest also said it will launch the WE Finance Code in Colombia in 2026.

In a statement to the House of Assembly, the Bermuda Ministry of Finance said Cabinet has approved policy proposals to update Bermuda’s digital finance framework. The package would modernise the FinTech Development Fund, clarify the Government’s authority to accept stablecoins and other approved digital payments for services, fees and obligations, and amend the Public Funds Act so approved financial instruments can be held and managed in digital form under existing public finance controls. It would also confirm the Accountant General’s role in receiving, managing, reconciling and auditing those payments and assets, while Financial Instructions would be updated where needed so digital payments and digital financial instruments are subject to the same safeguards as existing payment and investment arrangements. The fund, established in 2018, would be updated to support Bermuda’s on-chain economy initiative, education, entrepreneurship and responsible digital finance development, with governance and reporting requirements and at least 50 percent of disbursements reserved for projects involving companies with majority Bermudian ownership. The ministry linked the legislative package to outcomes from the Bermuda Digital Finance Forum, which drew more than 1,000 registrations and included announcements on a planned Digital Bermuda Dollar on the Stellar network.

The Islamic Financial Services Board published its Islamic Financial Stability Report 2026, finding that the Islamic financial services industry expanded to approximately USD 4.4 trillion in total assets in 2025 while the balance of risks shifted to the downside. The report identifies the growing prevalence of hybrid risks in Islamic banking as a central prudential concern, with some instruments and business models increasingly replicating conventional credit-like exposures in ways that may not be fully captured by existing prudential frameworks. Islamic banking remained the dominant sector, accounting for nearly 70% of total industry assets, while ṣukūk outstanding exceeded USD 1 trillion and issuance reached USD 234.5 billion. Headline banking indicators were broadly stable, but the report points to uneven capital resilience, emerging asset quality pressures in some markets, concentrated sovereign exposures, structural liquidity constraints, and governance failures in Bangladesh. It also highlights rising underwriting and capital pressures in Islamic insurance, persistent reliance on qarḍ in some markets, limited Islamic reinsurance capacity, and structural constraints in ṣukūk markets, including weaker local currency issuance, shallow secondary markets, higher trading frictions, and increasing complexity in ṣukūk structures. The report calls for a coordinated policy response covering stronger governance, forward-looking supervision, crisis management and resolution frameworks, broader Islamic liquidity management tools, more risk-sensitive capital treatment for hybrid instruments, macroprudential monitoring of hybrid exposures, and stress testing that incorporates operational disruptions and commodity price shocks. It also recommends strengthening Islamic insurance pricing, capital and fund-level monitoring, expanding Islamic reinsurance capacity, deepening local currency ṣukūk markets, and broadening the Islamic funds sector to support a more diversified investor base.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed rescinding the 2024 climate-related disclosure rules in their entirety, which would withdraw requirements for registrants to provide certain climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports. The proposal frames rescission as a return to a materiality-based approach to securities disclosure and states the Commission’s preliminary view that the rules exceed its statutory disclosure authority. The rules were adopted in March 2024 by a 3-2 vote and would have required disclosures on matters including greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risk management, board oversight, climate targets, and certain financial statement effects of severe weather events. The rules were adopted in March 2024 by a 3-2 vote and would have required disclosures on matters including greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risk management, board oversight, climate targets, and certain financial statement effects of severe weather events. However, they have not yet taken effect: after multiple parties challenged the rules in federal court, the SEC put them on hold, and the consolidated case before the Eighth Circuit is now paused while the Commission reconsiders the rules or decides whether to defend them. The Commission also cites policy grounds for rescission, including that the rules are unnecessary, extend beyond the policy concerns of federal securities laws, and impose costs not justified by their informational benefits.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Michele Spagnuolo, a resident of Switzerland, alleging insider trading on Polymarket.com. The agency claims Spagnuolo used sensitive nonpublic information about Google’s official 2025 Year in Search list to trade prediction market contracts and is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction for alleged violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. According to the complaint, Spagnuolo was a Google software engineer who obtained the information through his employment and then traded from at least October 2025 through December 2025 in at least 23 Year in Search-related contracts, including markets on the top searched person and the top five most searched people on Google in 2025. The CFTC alleges he traded with near-perfect accuracy under the Polymarket handle AlphaRaccoon and generated approximately USD 1.2 million in profits.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada has published a Special Bulletin setting out money laundering indicators to help businesses subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act detect and report suspected transactions linked to human trafficking around major international sporting and entertainment events. The bulletin covers trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labour, focusing on how existing trafficking operations may scale activity, shift locations, or adjust tactics during periods of concentrated demand rather than necessarily emerging as new networks. The indicators cover event-related transaction patterns around venues, hotels, entertainment districts and transportation hubs, including spikes in peer-to-peer payments, cash or prepaid product use, rapid movement of funds, accommodation-linked expenses, online escort advertising payments, virtual asset transfers, irregular payroll activity, wage control, recruitment-related deductions and account activity suggesting third-party control. FINTRAC also reported that in 2024–25 it generated 316 disclosures of actionable financial intelligence to Canadian law enforcement agencies in support of human trafficking investigations, identifying 538 subjects of interest and supporting 26 project-level investigations.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Clearing and Risk, Division of Market Oversight, and Market Participants Division issued a staff advisory on how designated contract markets (DCMs), swap execution facilities (SEFs), derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs), and futures commission merchants (FCMs) should assess moves to 24/7 trading, clearing, and settlement. The advisory does not create new obligations, but sets out staff expectations for entities seeking to extend operations and emphasizes that staff will review whether plans comply with the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations. The advisory highlights product-specific suitability, noting that crypto-asset derivatives may be better suited to 24/7 trading because of their digital infrastructure and global reach, while markets such as agricultural products may be less suited because of their customer bases, regional character, and specialized hedging practices. It identifies key areas for review, with staff focusing first on whether a product’s settlement process, underlying-market liquidity and trading profile can support continuous activity without increasing risks of manipulation, price distortion or disruptive trading. For DCMs and SEFs, that means demonstrating that real-time monitoring, market surveillance, risk controls, system safeguards and compliance staffing can operate effectively overnight, on weekends and during holidays. For DCOs, the review turns on how margining, collateral collection, financial resources, liquidity, default management, eligible collateral, operational resilience and vendor support would work where trading continues outside traditional clearing and banking hours. For FCMs, the advisory highlights customer segregation and capital risks, residual interest or prefunding arrangements, customer risk disclosures, risk-management policies, and front- and back-office staffing needed to support extended-hours activity.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a policy statement on the listing of perpetual contracts, alongside an order permitting a designated contract market to list a perpetual contract referencing the spot price of bitcoin as a futures contract. The Commission’s main position is that perpetual contracts referencing asset classes outside the scope of that order should be submitted for Commission review and approval under Regulation 40.3 rather than treated as suitable for routine self-certification. The statement explains that perpetual contracts have no fixed expiration date and rely on periodic funding-rate payments to keep prices aligned with the underlying spot asset. This structure raises distinct questions for market structure, customer protection, stress resilience and compliance with core principles, including the requirement that designated contract markets list only contracts not readily susceptible to manipulation. For perpetual contracts, the relevant reference price must remain reliable at every funding interval for as long as the contract remains active. The Commission identifies asset classes outside the order as including agricultural products, precious metals, equity securities and narrow-based security indexes, noting that each would require independent analysis.