GRC Report Staff

The SEC Office of Municipal Securities issued a staff statement explaining when a non-solicitor municipal advisor's participation in drafting, reviewing, or assembling disclosure documents is "advice" and municipal advisory activity, and how antifraud and fiduciary exposure follows. It creates no new legal obligations, but it shows how staff will assess advisor liability. Compliance teams should use it to recalibrate engagement scopes, supervisory controls, and disclosure-related practices.

EIOPA's final Q&A (ID 3528) states that derivatives, including forward bond contracts, should not be included in the market value of fixed-income assets (MVFI). Whether repacks are included depends on their contractual specifics. Insurers using long-term guarantee measures should review how they classify these exposures, because the classification affects the calculation.

ASIC's Form 397 is the mechanism for notifying ASIC that directors of a listed company or listed registered scheme have approved an auditor's continuation for up to two successive financial years beyond the five-year limit in s324DA(1). The resolution must be lodged within 14 days of its date to be relied upon, and late lodgement means the form is rejected and a new resolution is required. Compliance and company secretarial teams should build this timing and the s324DAB content requirements into their auditor rotation calendars.

ASIC's Form 5240 is the mechanism a corporate collective investment vehicle (CCIV) must use to notify ASIC of a proposed sub-fund name change under the Corporations Act 2001. The form carries strict lodgement windows of 14 or 60 days depending on the trigger, and late fees apply. Compliance teams at CCIV operators should confirm that their name-change workflows meet these deadlines and the related requirements.

The FCA's 52nd quarterly consultation paper proposes miscellaneous Handbook amendments, the most significant being a simplification of product-level climate disclosure rules for asset managers, life insurers and pension providers following a post-implementation review. It also covers cryptoasset fee tariffs, authorized fund exposure to cryptoasset exchange traded notes (cETNs), cryptoasset financial promotion approver notifications, and UK CRR consequential changes. The consultation has closed, so compliance teams should now prepare for the forthcoming feedback and final rules.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) has listed a warning on GooeyTrade that originates from the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). The AFM source URL places the entity in its "boilerroom" warning category, which signals suspected high-pressure investment fraud. Compliance teams should treat GooeyTrade as a high-risk counterparty and update screening and customer-protection controls.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) has published a warning about the website francejournal.info, which the French AMF added to its crypto-currency blacklist. Compliance teams should treat the domain as a high-risk, likely unauthorized or fraudulent crypto-related operation and update their screening and customer-protection controls accordingly.