Global Regulator & Central Bank News Roundup

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has published an Issues Paper seeking feedback on modernising the country’s retail payment system, which processes around NZD 2 trillion between banks each year. While the system remains operationally reliable, the Reserve Bank considers it increasingly unable to support a modern digital economy. New Zealand lacks a committed plan for real-time retail payments and its legacy, batch-based infrastructure cannot provide the always-on settlement, rich data, broad access and cross-border interoperability available in many peer jurisdictions. Existing initiatives such as open banking and SBI365 have improved front-end services and payment availability but do not address the underlying infrastructure constraints. The paper links these capability gaps to structural weaknesses in leadership, regulation and governance. No authority has an explicit mandate to set system-wide direction and accountability, regulatory responsibilities are spread across seven pieces of legislation, and Payments NZ’s bank-owned governance and control of clearing arrangements may limit access for non-bank providers and favour incumbent priorities. These settings constrain competition, coordinated investment and system-wide measures such as fraud safeguards, while the declining relevance of domestic EFTPOS infrastructure increases reliance on global card schemes. Indicative analysis suggests modernisation could add NZD 0.7 billion to NZD 1.3 billion to annual GDP, equivalent to 0.16% to 0.30%, through lower transaction and processing costs, faster settlement, productivity gains, stronger competition and more efficient cross-border payments. The realised benefits will depend on platform design, legal and governance choices and transition costs. The Minister of Finance has endorsed the Reserve Bank to lead a national modernisation strategy through two linked workstreams covering payment platform and cross-border capabilities, and reforms to strategic leadership, regulatory coordination and governance. No options have been ruled out, ranging from strengthened industry coordination to greater public-sector leadership, oversight or control, although the Reserve Bank views reform of industry governance and leadership as a minimum requirement.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published its 2026-27 Corporate Plan, setting its strategic priorities for the next four years and its policy and supervision agenda for the next 12 to 18 months. Under its first priority, maintaining financial safety and stability, APRA will intensify supervision of AI-enabled cyber threats, quantum computing preparedness, geopolitical risk and reliance on common technology platforms and material service providers. It will also review banks’ small business and housing lending practices, conduct a joint bank stress test with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, launch a new system-risk stress test, require selected large superannuation trustees to commission independent reviews of valuation governance, and develop a prudential framework for large stored-value facility providers subject to government reforms. Under its second priority, balancing financial safety with regulatory cost, APRA aims for its planned policy changes to have a broadly net-neutral impact on regulatory burden. It plans to finalise new cross-industry governance requirements for commencement in early 2028, consult jointly with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on streamlined Financial Accountability Regime requirements, and consult on a wider simplification package. Banking initiatives include finalising targeted capital changes for April 2027, consulting on revised liquidity requirements and a simplified market-risk framework, and completing licensing reforms intended to halve processing times for new bank applications. Under its third priority, improving organisational effectiveness, APRA will develop AI use cases for supervision, introduce new supervisory dashboards and advanced analytics, review its supervisory frameworks and methodology, and continue moving data collections to APRA Connect and a secure cloud-based platform. It will also establish an Organisational Effectiveness Committee in the first half of 2026-27 to replace the Management Committee and oversee strategic initiatives aimed at improving APRA’s efficiency and agility.

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has launched a consultation on enabling Operating Lease, including any hybrid of Operating and Financial Lease, of Graphics Processing Units and connected data centre equipment as a financial product in GIFT IFSC. The proposal would provide a leasing framework for high-cost AI computing infrastructure, allowing users to access equipment without ownership while transferring obsolescence and residual-value risks to lessors. The consultation is intended to support commercial demand for AI computing capacity alongside public infrastructure. India held less than 5% of global AI-optimised compute power, with boarded AI GPU capacity of 38,000 as of October 2025 expected to reach 100,000 by the end of 2026. The release estimates that AI adoption could drive deployment of 650,000–700,000 GPUs in Indian data centres over the next five years, representing a USD 23 billion investment opportunity, and says the proposal could broaden GIFT IFSC's leasing ecosystem.

New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has published a thematic review of add-on insurance and extended warranties, finding that insurers' arrangements do not consistently provide assurance of fair consumer treatment and outcomes under the Conduct of Financial Institutions regime. Distribution oversight was the clearest area requiring improvement. Insurers often relied on relationship management and periodic engagement rather than structured, risk-based monitoring of intermediaries, while some oversight roles were insufficiently independent from sales objectives. The FMA also observed sales approaches focused on progressing sales, including objection handling and recommending products beyond consumers' requirements. Product governance and consumer-outcome monitoring were also uneven. Insurers generally collected claims, loss-ratio, complaints and cancellation data, but often lacked defined thresholds, escalation points and documented processes for translating that information into product changes. Guaranteed asset protection, consumer credit insurance and payment protection insurance showed consistently low loss ratios, in some cases below 20% and as low as 3-6%, raising questions about whether consumers receive meaningful benefit. The review also found limited evidence that insurers test whether disclosures are understood, assess consumer requirements before sale or systematically use complaints to identify underlying conduct risks and improve products and distribution practices.

The Australian Government has set out implementation details for consumer protection reforms covering APRA-regulated superannuation funds, self-managed superannuation funds, lead generation, managed investment schemes, financial advice and the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort. The package would tighten controls on advice fee deductions and trustee accountability, expand regulatory intervention powers and strengthen safeguards against fraud, financial abuse, misconduct and sales-driven advice. For APRA-regulated funds, trustees would be required to set and enforce caps on advice fee deductions, while maximum civil penalties for core trustee breaches would rise from 2,400 to 50,000 penalty units. APRA would gain power to impose risk-based capital requirements on trustees offering higher-risk investment options, and ASIC could direct remediation where an investment option fails and a breach of trustee obligations is suspected. In the self-managed superannuation fund sector, the Australian Taxation Office could prevent rollovers to newly established funds while investigating potential harm. Additional measures include pre-registration trustee education, uniquely identifiable bank accounts, upfront written investment strategies, expanded collection of information on advisers and other establishment participants, and an increase in the supervisory levy from AUD 259 to AUD 295. The reforms would also ban unlicensed real-time communications about superannuation, strengthen consent and anti-hawking rules, introduce civil penalties and require licensees to oversee lead generation arrangements. Managed investment scheme changes would support mandatory audit and assurance standards for compliance plan auditors and require ASIC notification when redemptions are frozen or restricted. In financial advice, the Government would progress intra-fund charging, targeted prompts and statement-of-advice changes, introduce the New Class of Adviser regime initially for APRA-regulated superannuation and life insurance entities with remuneration safeguards, and retain the existing Best Interests Duty while removing its broadest safe-harbour step. Compensation Scheme of Last Resort changes would limit payments to actual losses for applications made to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority after June 30, 2027, without changing AFCA entitlements, establish a more predictable waterfall framework for exceptional losses, include all self-managed superannuation funds as Tier 3 levy payers when future special levies are required and make targeted operational reforms.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a call for expressions of interest to assess a preliminary set of standards for deploying offline digital euro functionality on embedded Secure Elements and embedded SIMs in smartphones. It is seeking input from Secure Element and eSIM issuers, mobile network operators, manufacturers and standards development organisations on whether the identified standards are suitable for the planned offline infrastructure, as work advances toward a digital euro pilot in the second half of 2027. Selected participants will review the preliminary list and provide views on the standards' maturity and future development, current and anticipated industry support, and implementation constraints or dependencies that could affect deployment and wider market adoption. The ECB intends to use the feedback to refine and update the list of standards. Applications are due by September 25, 2026, after which selected participants will receive further information.

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced that the Eurosystem has selected 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions for the Appia contact group, which will support its work on tokenisation across the Pontes and Appia initiatives. The group will begin work in September 2026, replacing the discontinued Pontes market contact group and New Technologies for Wholesale Settlement Contact Group. Members will advise on Pontes user requirements, risk management and platform development, while contributing expertise to the Appia vision and roadmap for a European tokenised financial ecosystem. Pontes is intended to connect market distributed ledger technology platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, enabling tokenised assets to settle in central bank money.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on draft regulatory and implementing technical standards for the annual reporting of clearing activity at recognised third-country central counterparties under Article 7d of EMIR. The proposed framework would apply to clearing members and clients and is designed around ESMA's gap analysis, with new reporting limited to information that is not already available through existing EU reporting frameworks or supervisory data sources. Where additional reporting is required, the framework would cover instrument types, annual average values cleared and initial margin. Average cleared values would be calculated from 12 month-end positions and reported by recognised CCP, asset class and Union currency, without conversion into EUR. Initial margin, including applicable add-ons, would be reported per recognised CCP as the average of month-end observations, with relevant currency amounts converted into EUR. For EU-supervised groups, ESMA proposes consolidated reporting by the Union parent undertaking with a distinction between EU and non-EU entities, rather than either fully consolidated reporting or a full entity-level breakdown. Reports would be submitted in CSV format annually by the last business day of January for the preceding calendar year, with transitional arrangements delaying the first reporting date until at least six months after the standards enter into force and requiring separate reports for outstanding years starting from 2025.

In a new blog post, the European Central Bank (ECB) assesses how elevated, AI-driven equity valuations could lead to a market correction and transmit financial stress to the euro area. US equity valuations are close to their historical peak, while euro area valuations have also risen, though less sharply. The post argues that a correction may occur whether current prices reflect rational expectations about AI’s transformative potential or investor overconfidence. Under the rational explanation, the option value associated with uncertain but potentially large gains initially raises the valuations of early adopters. As AI adoption becomes economy-wide, however, the associated risk becomes harder to diversify, prompting investors to demand a higher risk premium that could reduce valuations even if profits continue to grow. Under the behavioural explanation, fading optimism could produce an even sharper decline. The timing and scale of any correction remain unknowable, and valuations could rise further beforehand. The euro area could be affected through investors’ exposure to the Magnificent Seven technology stocks and through spillovers to its own equity markets. Euro area households have around EUR 440 billion of exposure to US technology equities, mainly through mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, and may not be fully aware of the resulting concentration risk. Insurers and pension funds also hold significant exposures. This fund-based structure could amplify a correction if investor redemptions force funds to sell liquid assets and, in a prolonged downturn, distressed holdings, pushing prices lower and triggering further withdrawals. A domestically generated AI-related crash appears less likely because euro area valuations remain considerably below US levels and its equity markets are dominated by old-economy companies with limited exposure to the AI-driven enthusiasm evident in the United States. The euro area technology sector also shows rising productivity, markups and AI adoption without the signs of exuberance associated with the dot-com period. Nevertheless, the historically high correlation between US and euro area equity markets means that a US correction would probably spill over. The effects could extend beyond asset prices to euro area sentiment, financing conditions and hiring.

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) has withdrawn three guidelines on boards’ evaluation of their collective suitability, effective Aug. 20, 2026. The withdrawal covers boards of life insurers and multi-employer pension funds, non-life insurers, banks and mortgage credit institutions, and forms part of the authority’s effort to simplify financial regulation. The authority considers separate self-evaluation guidance no longer necessary because board practices have developed. Financial firms’ boards must still continually assess whether they collectively possess sufficient knowledge, professional competence and experience to understand the firm’s activities, alongside the requirements that apply to individual board members.

The Central Bank of Uruguay announced that a fully online process for authorization and registration applications from virtual asset service providers will begin on September 1, 2026. Firms covered by the regulatory framework must obtain prior authorization from the Financial Services Superintendency before operating. The process is the third fully digital procedure introduced under the central bank’s authorization program and the first to involve an assessment of legality, opportunity and convenience. Earlier digital procedures involved registration only. The Central Bank previously approved the new framework for virtual assets providers in the second half of July.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) will launch its Office of Financial Conduct at the end of September 2026, creating a dedicated department for market conduct supervision and financial consumer protection across the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The office will begin accepting consumer complaints on October 15 and will oversee whether Licensed Financial Institutions treat customers fairly and meet standards for transparency, accountability and responsible business conduct. The office will assess and investigate complaints where appropriate and facilitate their resolution, including matters involving unfair treatment, fees and charges, banking products and accounts, and access to financial services. It will be supported by a Financial Conduct Committee and a Financial Dispute Resolution Commission for complex complaints and financial conduct matters. Five of the ECCB's eight member countries have enacted the required legislative amendments, while Saint Lucia is awaiting a second reading and Anguilla and the Commonwealth of Dominica are expected to enact the necessary legislation later in 2026.

Jamaica's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has launched a consultation on proposed Recovery Planning Guidelines for all prescribed financial institutions and prescribed financial holding companies in the insurance and securities sectors. The framework would require proportionate recovery plans designed to restore viability following severe stress, preserve critical functions and reduce reliance on extraordinary public support. Financial groups would submit one consolidated plan covering each prescribed institution, including material domestic and foreign operations. Boards would hold ultimate responsibility for recovery planning and approve plans, while senior management would oversee their implementation and maintenance. Plans would need to be integrated with enterprise risk management, independently reviewed and address governance, core business lines, critical functions and services, dependencies, indicators and triggers, stress testing, recovery options, communications, maintenance and testing. Entities would have to assess at least three severe but plausible scenarios covering idiosyncratic, system-wide and combined stress, including at least one capital adequacy scenario and one severe liquidity scenario, and evaluate recovery options against each scenario. Under the proposal, entities would review, test and submit their plans annually, update them promptly following material changes and notify the Commission within three business days of a recovery trigger breach, activation of a recovery option, a material impediment to implementation or relevant financial deterioration.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has proposed ComFrame-aligned rules that would overlay Bermuda’s existing group supervision framework with more detailed requirements for internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs). The rules would formalize supervisory practices already applied to IAIGs and place clearer group-wide accountability on the Head of IAIG for governance, enterprise risk management, internal controls, reporting and supervisory cooperation. The Insurance Capital Standard and the resolution framework are being developed through separate workstreams. The Head of IAIG would be required to maintain a consolidated understanding of the group’s structure and risks, explain its strategy through the Group Solvency Self-Assessment at least annually and keep that assessment current. Group-wide risk management systems and internal controls would be subject to regular review, while the enterprise risk management framework would require an independent review at least every three years. The proposals also strengthen requirements for intra-group exposures, investment due diligence and aggregate monitoring, and liquidity management, including severe but plausible stress testing, accessible liquidity resources, contingency funding arrangements and potential supervisory evidence packs.

The Bank of Jamaica has confirmed R. Brian Langrin as its new governor from Aug. 19, 2026, following his appointment by the governor general on the recommendation of the Cabinet under the Bank of Jamaica Act. He succeeds Richard Byles, whose term concludes after seven years leading the central bank. Langrin previously served as the Bank of Jamaica’s chief economist and head of financial stability, including as the Jamaican government’s technical lead on two sovereign debt restructurings. His subsequent roles included senior positions at the International Monetary Fund, Inter-American Development Bank Group and World Bank Group, as well as advising the Caribbean Community on modernizing regional digital financial market infrastructure.

Oman's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has established a mandatory licensing regime for entities that inspect insured property or risks before coverage is written and estimate losses after an insured event. Insurers may use only FSA-licensed providers. Applicants must be commercial companies whose registration is confined to the activity, with at least OMR 50,000 in capital, professional liability cover of at least OMR 50,000, a full-time qualified manager with five years of relevant experience and at least four qualified employees with two years of experience. Licenses run for three years, and licensees must begin operating within six months. Licensees must work under a client contract, maintain written procedures and records, protect confidential information, train staff and refrain from outsourcing licensed work. Conflict rules require disclosure of insurance-company shareholdings and prohibit engagements where a founder or first-degree relative holds more than 5% of the insurer or has a direct relationship with it. Pre-insurance reports must assess the insured subject's condition, risks, equipment and safety controls and recommend urgent mitigation measures. Post-loss work must investigate the cause and extent of damage, assess policy coverage and compensation, examine suspected fraud and advise on repairs and settlement. If a customer rejects an insurer's valuation, it may appoint another licensee at its own expense. If disagreement remains, the average of the two valuations becomes final and binding. The regulation replaces the previous controls for valuing vehicles treated as total losses following accidents and takes effect on Aug. 24, 2026. Existing licensed vehicle-valuation companies have one year to comply.

The Central Bank of Syria announced the adoption of a new electronic payment and money transfer framework establishing the legal, licensing and supervisory basis for payment services, electronic money issuance and management, and payment system operation. The framework is designed to broaden payment and transfer options and modernize the national payments infrastructure while retaining cash and not requiring the use of a particular payment method. The regime applies to companies, banking financial institutions and other entities approved by the Central Bank of Syria. Banking financial institutions do not require the new licenses but must obtain prior approval before launching payment activities, while nonbank providers must obtain final authorization and permission to commence operations. Licensing and ongoing obligations cover capital, governance, management suitability, interoperability, settlement, cybersecurity, business continuity, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls, and risk management. Providers must also segregate customer funds, disclose fees clearly, report specified material incidents within 24 hours, respond to complaints within 15 business days, retain customer and transaction data for at least five years, and keep critical data and operating infrastructure inside Syria. The framework further introduces a regulatory sandbox and allows foreign payment companies to operate through locally registered branches, subject to Central Bank of Syria requirements. It also creates conditional routes for cross-border services and links with global payment systems, but does not make international transfers or connectivity immediately available. Existing licensed payment companies have six months to comply, telecommunications companies conducting payment activities must establish separate companies within six months, and unlicensed providers must apply to regularize their status within 15 business days and complete an agreed remediation plan within no more than six months.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) published its Financial Stability Report 2025, concluding that the financial system remained resilient through strong 2025 growth and early-2026 regional disruption. Banking assets rose 17.1% to AED 5.3 trillion, loans grew 17.8% and deposits increased 16.1%. Asset quality improved as the non-performing loan ratio fell to 3.3%, while the Capital Adequacy Ratio and Common Equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 17.0% and 14.4%. Net profit reached AED 90.8 billion, up 11.7%, and the loan-to-deposit ratio remained moderate at 77.7%. Rapid credit and property-market growth remain key areas for monitoring. Private credit expanded 13.5%, mortgage lending increased 24% and the financial cycle remained in an expansionary phase, although average loan-to-value ratios on new mortgages were around 60%, below regulatory ceilings. Under the adverse stress test scenario, the aggregate Common Equity Tier 1 ratio fell 297 basis points to 11.1% but remained above minimum requirements. The system also retained liquidity surpluses of AED 462 billion over 30 days and AED 371 billion over 60 days. Beyond banking, the insurance sector's solvency ratio was 199% and gross written premiums rose 14.9% to AED 74.8 billion. Aani transaction volumes increased 183% and the JISR multi-CBDC platform went live. The report also reviewed the five-pillar Financial Institution Resilience Package approved in March 2026 and said a top-down climate stress test covering transition and physical risks is planned for 2026.

The Bank of Ghana has inaugurated the Non-Interest Financial Advisory Council as the national advisory body for the governance, regulation and supervision of non-interest banking and finance. The Council will advise the Central Bank on sector-wide issues, including product assessment, interpretation of non-interest financial principles and consistency of market practices. It will also support the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Insurance Commission until those regulators establish their own advisory councils. Its role does not replace the supervisory, enforcement or regulatory powers of the relevant authorities.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a tailored regime for covered investment contracts, where a crypto asset that is not itself a security, and no other asset, is subject to an investment contract. The proposal would create a one-time startup exemption for offerings of up to USD 5 million over four years and a Regulation A-style fundraising exemption comprising Tier 1 offerings of up to USD 20 million and Tier 2 offerings of up to USD 75 million in a 12-month period. Both exemptions would require crypto-specific disclosures and remain subject to federal antifraud and antimanipulation provisions and bad actor disqualification. The startup exemption would provide a temporary regulatory runway for development, testing and launch activities, covering capital raising and certain network-related distributions. It would permit general solicitation and retail participation, and covered investment contracts would not be subject to rule-based resale restrictions. Issuers would file a notice before the first covered transaction, maintain free public disclosures with annual updates for material changes and file a transition report by the end of the four-year period. The fundraising exemption would require an EDGAR-filed offering statement and circular, financial condition disclosure, financial statements, audited statements for Tier 2 and ongoing reporting. It would be limited to U.S.-organized entities meeting specified U.S. management, asset and administration tests, while purchases by non-accredited investors would generally be capped at 10% of annual income or net worth. The principles-based disclosures would address the issuer’s essential managerial commitments and progress, offering terms, network or application development, security and source code, crypto asset economics and allocations, governance, ecosystem and project-specific risks. A conditional safe harbor would apply once the issuer has completed or permanently ceased all promised essential managerial efforts, makes no new such promises and publicly files a certification with supporting analysis. The covered investment contract would then be treated as having ceased to exist and the crypto asset as no longer subject to it. State registration and qualification requirements would also be preempted for exempt primary offerings and certain secondary transactions, with secondary-market preemption continuing only while the issuer satisfies the applicable information and reporting conditions.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury proposed regulations to implement section 3 of the GENIUS Act by defining when payment stablecoins are issued, offered or sold in the United States and which entities may conduct those activities. From the Act’s expected effective date of January 18, 2027, issuance in the United States would generally be limited to permitted payment stablecoin issuers and foreign issuers that meet the Act’s eligibility criteria. Digital asset service providers would also be prohibited from making foreign-issued payment stablecoins available in the United States unless the issuer has the technological capability to comply, and will comply, with lawful orders and reciprocal arrangements. From July 18, 2028, providers could generally offer or sell payment stablecoins to persons located in the United States only if the coins were issued by a permitted issuer or an eligible foreign issuer. Under the proposal, issuance would occur when an issuer first transfers a payment stablecoin in a way that gives, or will give, another person the right to use, transfer or redeem it. A subsequent transfer following the issuer’s reacquisition of the coin would constitute a new issuance. Issuance would be treated as occurring in the United States when either the issuer or the recipient is located there. An individual’s location would generally depend on physical presence, excluding temporary presence by a nonresident, while an entity would be located in the United States if it is organized or incorporated there or has its principal place of business there. An issuer outside the United States, and a digital asset service provider dealing with non-U.S. customers, could avoid being deemed to conduct covered U.S. activity by maintaining a reasonable belief that the relevant person is outside the United States, implementing reasonably designed controls and refraining from U.S.-targeted advertising or solicitation. For foreign-issued payment stablecoins, a digital asset service provider could rely on an issuer’s representation that it can and will comply with lawful orders and reciprocal arrangements only after conducting reasonable due diligence and confirming that available information does not indicate otherwise. The proposal also recognizes waivers granted to certain applicants with pending authorization requests, safe harbors in unusual and exigent circumstances, and statutory exemptions for direct transfers between individuals without an intermediary, certain same-parent cross-border account transfers and self-custody wallet transactions.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a request for comment on the listing and trading of compute derivatives, seeking input on how designated contract markets should apply existing Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC requirements to contracts referencing the price of access to computing power. The CFTC views compute derivatives as a new and evolving product class and is examining whether the underlying cash market can support transparent, liquid and manipulation-resistant futures markets, particularly given its preliminary view that compute pricing is fragmented, largely bilateral and opaque, with limited standardization and potentially significant supplier pricing power. The request focuses on four areas: the size, liquidity and price formation of compute cash markets; market oversight and susceptibility to manipulation, including the reliability of settlement indices, designated contract market surveillance and potential information-sharing with compute venues and providers; customer protection, including anti-money laundering, know-your-customer and retail risks; and perpetual compute futures. The CFTC preliminarily expects most initial products to be cash-settled because of infrastructure challenges around physical delivery, making the robustness and manipulability of settlement prices central to contract design. It also seeks empirical and data-driven input on whether safeguards, risk controls, position-limit methodologies and customer protections need to be adapted for compute derivatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered supplemental consent orders resolving its enforcement actions against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and Alameda and FTX co-founder Gary Wang. The orders require both to continue cooperating with the CFTC and impose five-year trading bans, as well as a 10-year registration ban on Ellison and an eight-year registration ban on Wang. The bans run from the entry of their initial consent orders in December 2022. The trading bans broadly prohibit Ellison and Wang from trading on registered entities, entering into transactions involving commodity interests, directing trading for others and undertaking certain activities involving digital asset commodities. The registration bans prohibit them from applying for or claiming an exemption from CFTC registration, engaging in activities requiring such registration or exemption and, subject to specified exceptions, acting as a principal, agent, officer or employee of a person registered, exempt from registration or required to be registered with the CFTC. The CFTC is not seeking restitution, disgorgement or civil monetary penalties at this time, based in part on Ellison's and Wang's cooperation in its investigation and related proceedings and the USD 11.020 billion forfeiture order for which they were jointly and severally liable in parallel criminal actions.