AI Governance

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded its consultation and published final revised guidance on assessing rivalry-enhancing efficiencies in mergers, now incorporated into its updated Merger Assessment Guidelines. Compliance and legal teams advising on UK transactions should review the final text, because it changes how efficiency arguments are framed and evidenced in merger reviews.

In a keynote speech, a Bundesbank executive board member outlined Europe's need for greater financial and technological independence amid elevated geopolitical risk, and announced concrete supervisory and market-infrastructure steps. These include the end of dual large-loan reporting, the digital euro, and the first Wholesale CBDC availability through the Pontes Initial Launch this year. The speech is not binding, but it signals supervisory priorities on third-party dependency, payments resilience, and reporting simplification.

The Deutsche Bundesbank announced a 35-euro commemorative collector coin marking 125 years of the Wuppertal Suspension Railway, to be issued from September 17, 2026. The update is numismatic and not a regulatory change, so it creates no new compliance obligations. Compliance teams should treat it as a low-impact item, with attention only to cash handling, legal tender, and precious-metal product considerations.

FinCEN issued Alert FIN-2026-Alert005 on September 3, 2026, urging financial institutions to detect and report suspicious activity tied to Southeast Asian scam centers and the laundering of their proceeds. The Alert supplements FinCEN's September 2023 "pig butchering" Alert, adds a specific SAR key term, and highlights the role of guarantee marketplaces, Chinese money laundering networks, and Huione Group. Compliance teams should update monitoring, typologies, and SAR procedures now.

FINRA has filed a proposed rule change (SR-FINRA-2026-018) that would extend the maximum Rule 2165 temporary hold from 55 to 145 business days. It would also create new Rule 2166, a safe harbor allowing delays of up to 10 business days on suspected fraud for customers of any age, and would make Rule 4512 trusted contact flexibility changes. Compliance teams should begin assessing procedure, training, and system impacts now, because the SEC is soliciting comments and the final text and effective date are not yet set.

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) issued a public warning on September 3, 2026 against Corpholding Inc., which is suspected of running a boiler room operation and soliciting Danish consumers without authorization. Compliance teams should treat this as a fraud typology and sanctions-adjacent intelligence item, and update monitoring, screening, and customer-protection controls accordingly.

FINRA has filed a proposed amendment to Rule 4522(b)(1) that would except uncertificated investments in unregistered investment funds from the monthly position statement and reconciliation requirement, replacing it with a quarterly cadence. The change codifies and broadens the relief in a January 2026 SEC staff no-action letter that covered only capital balance funds. Carrying and clearing firms that custody private fund interests should assess how the exception affects their reconciliation procedures, while remembering that SEA Rule 17a-13 quarterly counts and the "prudent business practice" standard still apply.