Global Regulator & Central Bank News Roundup

The Advisory Committee on Sustainability Reporting, chaired by the Malaysia Securities Commission (SC), has deferred by one year the National Sustainability Reporting Framework requirement for reasonable assurance over Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions disclosures. The requirement will apply to Group 1 entities for annual reporting periods beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2028, rather than Jan. 1, 2027, while implementation for Group 2 and Group 3 entities will move to 2029 and 2030, respectively. The delay follows a review of the first 91 Group 1 listed issuers reporting under the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, which found that disclosure quality requires further improvement before mandatory assurance takes effect. During the extension, Main Market and ACE Market listed issuers must continue to disclose whether their sustainability disclosures have undergone internal review by internal auditors or independent assurance by a sustainability assurance provider. Independent assurance must be performed under International Standard on Sustainability Assurance 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements, as the sole designated recognised assurance standard. ISAE 3000 (Revised) and ISO standards will no longer be recommended. The ACSR will also issue a Sustainability Assurance Guide to support assurance providers and promote consistent application of the requirements, while the remaining proposals for the sustainability assurance framework will be communicated separately.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has published its first Five-Year Plan, establishing a medium- to long-term framework for economic and social development and for closer alignment with national development strategies. The plan centres on strengthening Hong Kong’s roles as an international financial, maritime and trade centre, expanding its innovation and technology and talent capabilities, accelerating development of the Northern Metropolis, deepening integration with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and advancing reforms in areas including housing, healthcare and public governance. For the financial sector, the plan seeks to expand the offshore renminbi ecosystem through stronger liquidity arrangements, broader product supply and greater use of renminbi for investment and settlement, while further developing cross-boundary wealth management and insurance-based risk transfer. It also calls for deeper equity and bond markets, enhancements to mutual market access, regular issuance of digital government bonds and further development of fixed income infrastructure. Digital finance measures include establishing a licensing and regulatory regime for digital assets based on the principle of same activity, same risks, same regulation, expanding tokenisation and supervisory sandboxes, and advancing areas including central bank digital currency, stablecoins, tokenised deposits, bonds and securities. Financial risk measures cover cross-market and cross-agency monitoring, cybersecurity, data security, fintech regulation and anti-money laundering. Implementation will follow a framework under which the Five-Year Plan sets strategic direction, the annual Policy Address translates it into specific tasks and projects, and the Budget provides resource support. Progress will be subject to ongoing monitoring, a mid-term assessment and final reporting, with adjustments permitted in light of actual circumstances.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has published a Future of Banking study examining how the country's banking sector could evolve to 2035 as technology, consumer expectations and new forms of competition reshape financial services. It sets out three plausible scenarios: incumbent banks modernise legacy systems and retain their dominant position, digital banks and fintechs gain meaningful market share, or banking shifts toward interconnected ecosystems in which services are increasingly delivered through platforms, partnerships and specialist providers rather than vertically integrated banks. The study identifies seven drivers of change, including disruptive business models, digital money and assets, incumbent banks' ability to adapt, the availability of trusted providers and growth in banking activity outside the prudential regulatory perimeter. Greater digitalisation and competition could lower switching barriers, improve efficiency and access, and broaden consumer choice. At the same time, more interconnected and technology-dependent models could increase operational and third-party concentration risks, AI-related risks, funding and liquidity pressures, disorderly exits and contagion, while shifting more activity beyond existing regulatory frameworks. The Reserve Bank identifies several areas for future regulatory focus. These include stronger horizon scanning and market monitoring, keeping the regulatory perimeter under review as digital payments, crypto-assets, stablecoins and non-bank intermediation evolve, and ensuring requirements remain responsive in areas such as technology, AI, operational resilience and outsourcing. It also points to deeper supervisory capability, effective crisis-management and resolution frameworks, and stronger coordination across regulators. The findings will inform research, system monitoring, policy development and supervision, including implementation of the Deposit Takers Act 2023.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will now regulate and supervise the High Value Clearing System under the Financial Market Infrastructures Act 2021 after the Minister of Finance designated the system on the Reserve Bank’s recommendation. Operated by Payments NZ, the system clears about NZD 551 billion of high-value payments each month and is the first clearing payment system in New Zealand to be designated as a financial market infrastructure. The move extends the Reserve Bank’s existing oversight of payment settlement to the clearing stage of high-value payments. The designation completes the process initiated by the Reserve Bank’s August 2025 proposal and follows its assessment that the High Value Clearing System is a pure payment system, Payments NZ is its operator and the system is systemically important. The Reserve Bank maintained that formal designation is needed to apply the Financial Market Infrastructures Act and relevant FMI Standards, provide regulatory approval over rule changes and support intervention in distress scenarios. In response to consultation feedback, it refined the scope of the rules identified for designation to the sub-part level, while maintaining that all rules forming part of the High Value Clearing System must fall within the designation rather than only those considered material.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has finalised a more proportionate framework for managing third-party risk. The guidelines concentrate stricter safeguards on arrangements supporting critical or important functions, while reducing burdens for less material arrangements. The guidelines cover non-information and communication technology (non-ICT) services and complement the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which governs ICT services, supporting consistent risk management across both types of third-party dependency. Under the framework, financial entities should assess the risks and criticality of proposed third-party arrangements and conduct proportionate due diligence before contracting. For arrangements supporting critical or important functions, they must apply enhanced safeguards throughout the relationship, including clear service levels, ongoing performance monitoring, access and audit rights, controls over subcontracting, business continuity arrangements and documented exit strategies that enable services to be transferred to another provider or brought back in-house. Entities must also maintain an updated register of third-party arrangements, with additional information required for those supporting critical or important functions. A two-year transitional period applies to the review and documentation of existing arrangements supporting critical or important functions. If that work is not completed within the period, financial entities should inform their competent authority of the measures planned to complete it or of a possible exit strategy, while other arrangements may be reviewed and documented when renewed.

The European Central Bank (ECB) published supervisory banking statistics for significant institutions for the second quarter of 2026, showing capital ratios increased from the previous quarter but remained below levels earlier in the year, while profitability and liquidity improved and the aggregate non-performing loan ratio declined marginally. The Common Equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 16.00%, compared with 15.99% in the previous quarter and 16.09% a year earlier. The non-performing loan ratio excluding cash balances at central banks and other demand deposits fell by one basis point to 2.17%, as a 2.6% increase in total loans and advances outweighed a 2.1% rise in non-performing loans. Stage 2 loans declined to 9.18% of total loans from 9.29% in the previous quarter. Annualised return on equity rose to 10.73% from 10.02% in the previous quarter and 10.11% a year earlier, supported by higher net interest income and net fee and commission income. The cost-to-income ratio fell to 53.06%, its lowest level since the series began in 2015, while the liquidity coverage ratio increased to 154.91% from 153.94% in the previous quarter. The ECB also released a new quarterly set of system-wide banking statistics combining significant and less significant institutions and covering capital, profitability, liquidity and asset quality across the Single Supervisory Mechanism banking sector.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a call for input on tokenized gold, focusing on wholesale collateral use and possible exemptions from fund regulation. The exercise covers tokens conferring ownership of physical gold with verifiable backing and reliable redemption arrangements. Effective collateral use requires enforceable rights, certainty over settlement and insolvency, and interoperability with existing custody and market infrastructure. Classification as a collective investment scheme (CIS) or alternative investment fund (AIF) could trigger additional authorization and distribution requirements and affect prudential treatment and collateral use. Direct ownership of an allocated bar without pooling is more likely to fall outside fund rules than collectively managed fractional interests. Potential responses include perimeter guidance, targeted exemptions developed with the Treasury, or a bespoke regime. Any wider exemption would require alternative regulation offering more effective protections, including for ownership, custody, redemption and insolvency. These remain exploratory options rather than firm proposals. Meanwhile, the FCA also released the feedback statement on its broader consultation on tokenization in wholesale markets. The consultation, launched in May 2026 jointly with the Bank of England, sought views on regulatory principles, priorities and barriers to adopting tokenized securities, covering their issuance, trading, settlement and custody. The feedback paper draws on 123 responses that broadly supported the approach but called for faster progress from pilots to permanent, scalable markets. Respondents identified collateral mobility as the main opportunity and sought clearer prudential and collateral treatment, statutory insolvency protections for blockchain settlement, and interoperability across platforms and jurisdictions. Most favored applying existing CASS 6 custody rules for traditional investment assets, supplemented by controls for blockchain risks. The authorities reaffirmed their technology-neutral approach and the requirement for an identifiable regulated person to remain accountable for regulated activities. A joint roadmap with target dates is due later in 2026. The Bank also plans a supervisory statement and discussion paper on central counterparties’ acceptance of tokenized collateral later in 2026. Existing prudential requirements continue to apply while further clarity is developed.

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has amended the Lending, Credit and Finance Rules to remove three constraints on virtual asset service providers from 1 October 2026: the blanket requirement for firms already licensed by the Commission to obtain a separate VASP licence for virtual asset activity, the restriction limiting VASP services to institutional and wholesale counterparties, and the VASP-specific annual environmental declaration. The changes implement measures the Commission said in July it would take forward under its Digital Finance Initiative, reducing duplicated licensing and reporting requirements while allowing VASPs to serve retail customers. The amendments do not remove core controls on VASP activity. To that end, licensees remain prohibited from offering or dealing in virtual assets or services designed to obscure transaction parties or asset flows, may undertake only activities permitted by their licence, and must obtain prior written approval to add VASP activities not specified in the original application. Existing customer-asset safekeeping requirements also continue, including identification of customer entitlements and restrictions on using or lending customer virtual assets without consent. The measures form part of wider Digital Finance Initiative work that has already produced guidance on tokenisation and is continuing on stablecoins, digital custody and the use of technology for anti-financial crime compliance.

Portugal's Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority (ASF) brought together 20 technology companies at InovaSup Day 2026 in Lisbon to discuss and develop artificial intelligence solutions for supervision. The event served as a preliminary market consultation under the Public Contracts Code, with ASF presenting four supervisory challenges through a reverse pitch format. The four challenges focused on applying artificial intelligence to specific supervisory tasks, from complaints handling to information analysis and insurance policy compliance checks. ConsumerFlow targets the complaints and inquiry process, automating case classification, legal-requirement checks and the preparation of responses using predefined templates. DataExtract would support ASF’s review of PRIIPs Key Information Documents by extracting and structuring their contents, identifying regulatory noncompliance and generating data for trend and risk analysis. SpeedReading would analyze insurers’ Solvency and Financial Condition Reports, linking narrative and quantitative information to identify inconsistencies and support comparisons over time and across insurers. ClauseCompliance, meanwhile, would assess insurance policies against relevant law and case law and flag potentially abusive clauses. Participants and other interested parties are invited to submit technical contributions, conceptual proposals and potential prototypes addressing the challenges. This input will help ASF prepare tender documents for the acquisition of technological solutions.

The Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM) has launched a consultation on a draft regulation that would operationalize DORA reporting requirements for entities under its prudential supervision. The proposal covers reporting of major ICT related incidents, voluntary notifications of significant cyberthreats and information on contractual arrangements for ICT services. It sets the procedures, reporting channels and file specifications for submitting this information to the CMVM, without creating parallel or duplicative obligations beyond DORA and related legislation. For major ICT related incidents, supervised entities would submit initial notifications, intermediate reports and final reports through the CMVM's Electronic One Stop Shop, update reports when material information changes and report reclassifications of incidents. The proposal also specifies requirements where incident reporting is outsourced. For ICT contractual arrangements, entities would submit their complete information register annually by February 28 with a December 31 reference date, correct identified errors through specified reporting processes and provide the complete register within five business days when requested by the CMVM. Entities would also notify planned ICT arrangements supporting critical or important functions at least 30 calendar days before they take effect, increasing to 60 days for trading venues, central counterparties and central securities depositories, which must also provide the relevant management body approval.

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has identified significant weaknesses in the governance and oversight of outsourced critical functions following an Outcomes-Based Review covering approximately 16% of authorised Fund Managers. Shortcomings span provider selection and due diligence, the classification of in-house and outsourced functions, conflicts of interest, governing body reporting and contingency planning. The review covered critical functions including investment management, risk management, valuation, compliance, anti-money laundering and internal audit. Pre-selection frameworks were often generic, informal and insufficiently risk based, while some Fund Managers undertook inadequate due diligence or relied on a provider’s market reputation instead of assessing its operations, governance, controls and compliance history. Nearly all Fund Managers in the sample showed weaknesses in distinguishing in-house functions from outsourced services, with some treating functions performed under third-party service agreements as internal arrangements. In some cases, both investment management and risk management were outsourced, resulting in a letter-box entity structure. The MFSA requires at least one of these two functions to be undertaken in-house. The review also found limited assessment of conflicts arising where providers serve competing Fund Managers or perform multiple functions, insufficient reporting to governing bodies, and excessive reliance on providers’ own business continuity arrangements without adequate transition and fallback planning. The MFSA expects Fund Managers to strengthen oversight, including through substantive ongoing due diligence and documented governing body assessments, and to conduct a documented gap analysis against the review findings and address identified weaknesses.

HM Treasury has published the Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy, backed by GBP 500 million over three years from the economic crime levy. The government will recruit 500 officers across police forces, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service to trace illicit funds, disrupt organized crime networks and seize criminal assets, including those linked to Russian and other international money laundering networks. The strategy will expand financial intelligence capabilities, use advanced technology and strengthen cooperation with the private sector and international partners. It also seeks to recover more criminal assets and direct a significant share of recovered funds to public services and law enforcement. Over the past year, authorities stripped criminals of almost GBP 350 million, denied them more than GBP 1 billion, returned GBP 26 million to victims and disrupted 2,700 illicit finance operations.

The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has launched a consultation on a draft Circular setting trading frequency and volume thresholds that would allow it to delist equity instruments from regulated markets under its supervision. The draft would permit delisting where, based on the preceding 12 months of trading as of Dec. 31, both the number of sessions in which the instrument traded did not exceed 10% of total sessions and total traded consideration did not exceed EUR 100,000. Days when trading was suspended would generally be excluded, while suspensions linked to financial restructuring or insolvency would defer the assessment to the following 12-month period. The draft does not propose a separate distribution threshold because the applicable framework does not require continuous maintenance of the distribution required at initial admission. Where the thresholds are not met, the Commission would notify the issuer of the start of delisting proceedings. The proceedings would be interrupted if, within three months, the issuer convenes a shareholders' meeting to approve measures proposed by its board to improve liquidity. The Commission would reassess the liquidity parameters after the next complete 12-month observation period and delist the shares if the thresholds remained unmet. If no measures are adopted within three months, the Commission would proceed with delisting, while an issuer could instead agree to and seek delisting through a shareholder-approved request. The first 12-month assessment period would begin Jan. 1, 2027, although an issuer that has already failed the thresholds for the preceding 12 months when the Circular takes effect could request immediate delisting.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) is consulting on the first phase of a resolution regime for commercial insurers, under which it would become the resolution authority. Its resolution and supervisory functions would be operationally separate, with distinct staffing, reporting lines and decision-making arrangements. The regime would aim to protect policyholders and client assets, preserve financial stability and market confidence in Bermuda, and minimise reliance on public funds. The BMA would balance these objectives according to the circumstances of each case, with none taking automatic priority. Resolution would generally be pursued where it has a high probability of success and would achieve these objectives more effectively than normal insolvency proceedings. The proposed regime would apply to domestic insurers and internationally active insurance groups (IAIGs) designated by the BMA for which it acts as group supervisor. The BMA could extend coverage to locally licensed insurers belonging to foreign-incorporated IAIGs, as well as other Bermuda-domiciled commercial insurers whose failure could undermine local financial stability or materially harm the real economy. Inclusion in the regime would not automatically require a resolution plan. Instead, the BMA would develop plans selectively, taking account of an insurer’s significance to the local economy and broader crisis management implications. The assessment would consider factors such as complexity, substitutability, cross-border operations and interconnectedness. Later phases would address resolution powers and tools, further aspects of resolution planning, cross-border cooperation and safeguards. The framework would build on existing supervisory and crisis management arrangements, including Bermuda’s Provisional Liquidation regime for corporate restructurings under court supervision.

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission's (CVM) Tokenization Working Group submitted a draft resolution to the CVM Board proposing the DLT CVM Pilot Program, an experimental regime for testing securities activities on distributed ledger technology networks. The pilot would cover issuance, offering, distribution, trading, bookkeeping, custody, central deposit and settlement, with the aim of assessing the technology's technical, operational and legal feasibility, network interoperability, and potential risks, vulnerabilities and regulatory gaps. Experimental operations could involve shares, debentures, receivables certificates, investment fund units and other securities or collective investment contracts. The CVM would directly oversee the tests through access to selected voluntary networks, including real time visibility of transaction records. Eligible external members of the working group, including representative associations of CVM authorised or registered entities and securities market self regulators, could manage the test networks. The tests would run for 60 days, with a possible extension of up to 30 days. Participants would then submit final reports to a management committee composed of CVM members of the working group, which would consolidate the results, identified risks and recommendations for possible regulatory or legislative changes for submission to the CVM Board.

The Financial Superintendence of Colombia has launched RelatorÍA Inteligente, an artificial intelligence based tool for organizing, structuring and summarizing previously issued jurisdictional decisions on disputes between financial consumers and supervised entities. The platform centralizes first and second instance decisions and helps users identify relevant rulings, related lines of case law and case histories. It can process written decisions and transcribe rulings delivered orally at hearings, extract relevant legal information and thematic descriptors, and produce structured summaries linked to the underlying decisions. The tool uses only jurisdictional decisions and related case materials held by the Superintendence, including decision texts, cited legislation and case law, and thematic descriptors. It does not use external sources. RelatorÍA Inteligente operates within the Superintendence's institutional infrastructure, with access controls, personal data safeguards, automated validation and traceability mechanisms. Personal or sensitive information is subject to data protection and anonymization controls before publication, while AI outputs are subject to institutional review, validation and correction. In testing, RelatorÍA Inteligente generated 621 case summaries in five hours, 62 times the capacity of the manual process. Projected monthly capacity is about 89,280 summaries, equivalent to 124 times the productivity of the traditional model. The platform initially covers decisions issued from January through June 2026 and will progressively add earlier decisions dating back to 2022, while retaining a case history section for decisions outside that range.

The Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority has finalised enhancements to its Funds and Fund Manager framework following its 2025 consultation, introducing streamlined regimes for Sub-Threshold Fund Managers and Institutional Fund Managers, extending streamlined requirements to certain institutional fund asset managers, facilitating employee investment in private Funds and revising the Foreign Fund Manager framework. Existing Authorised Persons may apply to move into the new Sub-Threshold Fund Manager, Institutional Fund Manager or Institutional Fund Asset Manager categories. Sub-Threshold Fund Managers are limited to USD 200 million of Committed Capital across all managed Funds, may manage only closed-ended Funds unavailable to Retail Clients and cannot operate as host Fund Managers. They are subject to a USD 50,000 Base Capital Requirement with no Expenditure Based Capital Minimum and are exempt from mandatory Finance Officer and internal audit requirements, while professional indemnity insurance remains required. Institutional Fund Managers may manage only Qualified Investor Funds or equivalent Foreign Funds with a minimum subscription of USD 5 million and no natural person Unitholders. They are exempt from mandatory Finance Officer, internal audit and professional indemnity insurance requirements, with minimum capital set at the higher of USD 50,000 or 6/52nds of Annual Audited Expenditure. The changes also make Venture Capital Fund Managers a sub-category of the Sub-Threshold Fund Manager framework and facilitate qualifying employee and director investment through Employee Investment Vehicles. The revised Foreign Fund Manager framework limits Foreign Fund Managers to managing closed-ended Qualified Investor Funds, requires unconditional submission to ADGM law and the jurisdiction of the ADGM Courts, introduces additional local appointment requirements and prohibits host Fund Manager structures. A transition period for Venture Capital Fund Managers and Foreign Fund Managers runs until March 31, 2027.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) is consulting on changes to Islamic banks’ credit risk capital rules to align with the Islamic Financial Services Board’s IFSB-23 standard. Under the Standardised Credit Assessment Approach, banks would assess unrated bank counterparties annually, considering repayment capacity and regulatory compliance. Base risk weights would be 40% for banks able to meet commitments across economic cycles (Grade A), 75% for those dependent on stable or favourable conditions (Grade B), and 150% for those facing material default risk (Grade C). A new Standardised Approach for Counterparty Credit Risk (SA-CCR) would measure exposures from Shari’a-compliant hedging contracts using their replacement cost following counterparty default and an allowance for potential future exposure. Real estate risk weights would reflect the amount financed relative to property value and whether repayment depends on income generated by the property. Land acquisition, development and construction financing would generally receive 150%, with 100% available for residential projects meeting collateral, valuation and pre-sale, pre-lease or borrower-equity requirements. Project finance without an external rating specific to the exposure would receive 130% in the pre-operational phase and 100% in the operational phase, reduced to 80% for projects meeting additional requirements for repayment resilience, cash flows and creditor protection. Equity risk weights in the banking book would be phased in during 2027–2031, reaching 250% for listed equities and 400% for unlisted equities held for short-term resale or as venture capital or similar investments. Detailed fund rules would base capital calculations on underlying holdings or the riskiest portfolio allowed by the fund’s investment mandate, with an 800% risk weight where neither method is feasible. Off-balance-sheet commitments would generally be converted into credit exposures at 40% of their amount. Unconditionally cancellable commitments would receive a 10% conversion factor, with implementation allowed until 31 December 2031. Fee-free arrangements requiring a fresh application, bank approval and credit assessment before each drawdown would remain at 0%.

The Saudi Central Bank announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone will soon be available in Saudi Arabia, enabling merchants to accept contactless payments directly on compatible iPhones using Near Field Communication technology. The service will support payments with mada cards, other contactless-enabled cards and digital wallets, expanding the central bank's digital payment infrastructure alongside its national payment system and Software Point of Sale service introduced in 2021. Separately, the Saudi Central Bank and Qatar Central Bank have begun the gradual acceptance of cards between their national payment systems following completion of technical and operational integration and connectivity arrangements. The phased rollout is intended to enable card usage and access to payment services as the approved integration phases are completed, strengthening payment connectivity between the two countries and facilitating more efficient cross-border payments.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted temporary, conditional exemptions from the Exchange Act definitions of exchange and dealer to facilitate permissioned trading of tokenized National Market System stock through Tokenized Securities Venues using automated market makers and liquidity pools. Qualifying TSVs will not have to register as national securities exchanges or operate under the alternative trading system exemption for these activities. A separate exemption covers certain liquidity providers that supply tokenized NMS stock using proprietary capital. The TSV exemption includes controls on market scope, investor rights, transparency and operations. Tokenized NMS stock must provide holders the same rights and privileges as equivalent traditional stock. Where an unaffiliated third party tokenizes the stock, the TSV must notify the underlying issuer in advance and cannot allow trading if the issuer objects. Trading is capped at 75 Tier 1 symbols and 0.25% of prior-month average daily share volume, and 250 Tier 2 symbols and 2.5%. TSVs must also use auditable public smart contracts on public permissionless distributed ledgers, publish specified transaction data within 10 minutes, stop trading when the underlying stock is halted or suspended, and meet disclosure and recordkeeping requirements. Covered Firms relying on the dealer exemption must limit their securities activities to qualifying AMM Liquidity Pools, trade solely for their own account and not hold customer assets. Both exemptions expire after five years while the SEC considers possible modifications and longer-term regulatory action.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has proposed simpler bank merger filings and new decision deadlines. A new de minimis category would allow qualifying small acquisitions and certain subsidiary reorganizations to use letter filings and receive deemed approval without a public comment period. Any required Attorney General competition review would still apply. More transactions would qualify for expedited processing, with the acquisition size limit for certain filings rising from 10% to 25% of the acquirer’s assets. Two new standard review categories would require decisions within 90 or 150 days of receiving a substantially complete filing, with extensions allowed for extenuating circumstances. Adverse comments and Community Reinvestment Act protests would not automatically remove a filing from expedited processing. They would need supporting evidence and raise concerns serious enough to affect the statutory assessment. The proposal would also change how merger risks are assessed. The initial competition screen would include credit union shares and representative portions of centrally booked deposits. Transactions meeting specified market concentration limits could not be rejected on competition grounds unless the Attorney General objected. Acquisitions of insured depository institutions with less than USD 20 billion in consolidated assets would qualify for a separate financial stability safe harbor. More broadly, reviews would emphasize the resulting institution and allow effective remediation plans to support favorable findings despite existing supervisory weaknesses.

The Market Participants Division of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has extended to passive software providers the no-action position it previously granted to a single software developer. Subject to specified conditions, the division will not recommend enforcement against qualifying providers for failing to register as introducing brokers, or against relevant personnel for failing to register as associated persons, solely because they engage in covered activities. The position applies until Commission rulemaking or guidance addressing the application of introducing broker registration requirements to software developers takes effect and is not limited to providers of crypto asset related software. Covered activities include providing front-end software that allows users to review market information and submit orders for Commission-regulated derivatives directly to designated contract markets, futures commission merchants or introducing brokers. Providers may market their services and particular derivatives contracts, introduce or solicit users to specific registrants, receive a share of registrant revenues and charge users transaction-based fees. Their role in trading must remain passive. They may not hold or control user assets, generate express buy or sell signals, or exercise discretion over order routing or execution, and users must remain able to access the relevant registrant independently of the provider. The position is subject to a series of safeguards. These include disclosures addressing conflicts of interest and fees, relevant risk disclosures, marketing and communications controls broadly aligned with requirements for registered introducing brokers, recordkeeping and specified notifications to the division. Each provider and participating registrant must also enter into a written undertaking accepting joint and several liability for violations arising from covered activities and consenting to the Commission's investigative and enforcement jurisdiction.

In remarks at the Luncheon of the Lord Mayor in London, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman announced the initial findings of an independent review of Silicon Valley Bank's failure by the Starling Advisory Group. The review found that Federal Reserve supervisory staff knew, or should have known, about SVB's vulnerabilities as early as March 2022 but did not take prompt and decisive action to address them. It identified a long-standing culture of risk aversion and unclear decision rights as significant factors in the supervisory inaction, while finding that the delays were not caused by the 2018 regulatory tailoring mandate or a directive from the former Vice Chair for Supervision. The report attributes SVB's failure to vulnerabilities including unrealized securities losses exceeding its capital, a deposit base that was 94% uninsured and concentrated in venture capital backed technology companies, and a lack of operational readiness to borrow from the discount window. It also found no evidence that social media triggered or accelerated the bank run, with 96% of related social media activity occurring after failure had become inevitable. The Federal Reserve has already issued Supervisory Operating Principles that refocus supervision on identifying and addressing material threats to bank safety and soundness and U.S. financial stability, prioritize significant risks over procedural or documentation issues, and expand supervisory options to include observations alongside matters requiring attention and enforcement actions. Examination teams will also submit monthly reports to supervision leadership and their respective Reserve Banks identifying cases where examiners are uncertain about whether supervisory action is warranted or consistent with leadership expectations.

The United States Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) published a frequently asked questions document defending its April 2026 analysis that prohibiting stablecoin yield would have little effect on bank lending. Its baseline model estimates that a ban would increase lending by USD 2.1 billion, or 0.02%, while imposing an annual net welfare cost of about USD 800 million on households. The analysis addresses the policy debate over extending the GENIUS Act’s issuer-level yield prohibition to rewards offered through affiliates or third parties . Under the baseline assumptions, a ban would shift USD 54 billion from a USD 300 billion stablecoin market into commercial bank deposits, but only USD 6.5 billion would create marginal lending capacity. Community bank lending would rise by about USD 500 million, or 0.026%. The Council argues that stablecoin purchases generally transfer deposits among account holders and banks rather than remove them from the banking system, particularly when issuers hold reserves in bank deposits or Treasury bills. The FAQ tests assumptions proposed by trade groups and advocacy organizations through an interactive model. The largest estimated increase in lending is USD 531 billion, or 4.4%, but this requires stablecoins to reach roughly six times their current share of deposits, issuers to hold all reserves as locked cash, households to display extreme yield sensitivity and the Federal Reserve to abandon its ample reserves framework. Under the same extreme assumptions but with ample reserves maintained, the estimated increase falls to USD 72 billion, or 0.6% of loans.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) proposed amendments to National Instrument 81-102 Investment Funds that would provide harmonized exemptions from certain repurchase transaction requirements for reporting issuer investment funds where the Bank of Canada is the purchaser. The amendments would codify temporary relief introduced in July 2025 for the Bank of Canada’s Contingent Term Repo Facility and extend the exemptions to future Bank of Canada repurchase facilities, allowing eligible funds to use these facilities for liquidity management during periods of severe market-wide stress. Funds relying on the exemptions would be required to use cash received from repurchase transactions only for liquidity management and comply with specified notification and reporting requirements. Investment fund managers would remain subject to the statutory standard of care. The changes are intended to remove regulatory constraints that would otherwise prevent reporting issuer investment funds from accessing Bank of Canada liquidity facilities during stress periods. The amendments would replace the existing temporary exemptive framework with permanent harmonized provisions and also cover any future Bank of Canada repurchase facilities. The amendments are planned to come into force end of July 2028.