Compliance & Ethics

SEC Division of Trading and Markets Director Jamie Selway used a roundtable to signal strong staff support for extended-hours equity trading, noting that market data infrastructure is scheduled to expand to 23 hours a day, five days a week on December 6, 2026. The remarks are not a rule or formal guidance, but they show where the Division's priorities lie and what it expects of the industry. Compliance teams should treat them as a prompt to confirm operational, surveillance, and investor-disclosure readiness for overnight trading.

In a speech at the Law Society Economic Crime Conference, the FCA's Steve Smart confirmed the regulator will begin AML supervision of roughly 60,000 legal and accounting sector entities at the end of 2028. The FCA promises a risk-based, proportionate, technology-enabled approach focused on criminals and professional enablers rather than compliant firms. Compliance teams in these sectors, and financial institutions that serve them, should begin preparing for a shift in supervisory expectations and in how they engage with the regulator.

De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has required trust company Erez Corporate Service BV to pay a EUR $100,000 penalty because it failed to cure serious violations of the Trust Offices Supervision Act 2018 within the six-month period set by an April 2024 Penalty Payment Order. The case shows that regulators will follow up on remediation deadlines and escalate when firms do not fix deficiencies in risk assessments, procedures, and client due diligence. The decision is now irrevocable because Erez withdrew its appeal.

Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered a recipient of information from an issuer's officer to pay an administrative surcharge of JPY $6.56 Million for insider trading in Goodspeed Co., Ltd. shares ahead of a tender offer. The case shows that tippees, not only corporate insiders, face enforcement under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). Compliance teams should treat it as a prompt to review controls over material non-public information (MNPI) and personal trading.

The SEC issued an order creating time-limited exemptions that allow tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks to trade onchain through a new category of entity called "tokenized securities venues" (TSVs). TSVs are exempt from the Exchange Act definition of "exchange," and certain liquidity providers are exempt from the definition of "dealer." Compliance teams at broker-dealers, trading venues, and issuers should assess whether to participate, how to opt out, and how to prepare for the permanent rules that will follow.

Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered ENECHANGE Co., Ltd. to pay an administrative monetary penalty of JPY $91,495,000 for false statements in its quarterly reports, following a recommendation from the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC). The respondent acknowledged the facts and the penalty amount, which allowed the matter to conclude through a streamlined adjudication. The case shows that disclosure accuracy remains a priority enforcement area for issuers and their control functions.

DNB and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) outlined a three-line defense against explosive ATM attacks: hardened machines, banknote-staining systems with ink, glue, and synthetic DNA, and refusal of soiled notes by businesses and consumers. This is an awareness-focused press release rather than a new rule, but it signals supervisory expectations on cash security, physical risk, and handling of stolen-note proceeds. Compliance teams at banks, cash handlers, and retailers should confirm that their controls reflect these expectations.