The SEC Division of Investment Management granted no-action relief, allowing certain Puerto Rico retirement plans to participate in "bank-maintained" collective trust funds without requiring the trust to register under the Investment Company Act, the Securities Act or the Exchange Act. The no-action relief under the Investment Company Act was granted primarily because the Puerto Rico retirement plans do not meet the requirements for qualification under Section 401 of the Internal Revenue Code. Thus, collective trust funds accepting the assets of such plans would not, absent relief, be able to

Highlighting an allegedly corrupt, "oil-for-repression" relationship between Venezuela and Cuba, OFAC designated two companies involved in the transport of oil from Venezuela to Cuba pursuant to Executive Order 13850. According to OFAC, the companies are part of a "barter system" through which Venezuelan oil supplies are exchanged for Cuban political, intelligence, military and other forms of support. In addition to these designations, OFAC identified as blocked property: one vessel owned by one of the two designated companies that transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba; and over 30 vessels

FINRA issued a notice providing members with guidance on customer communications with respect to departing registered representatives. In particular, FINRA urged broker-dealers to, following a departure: (i) promptly and clearly communicate to customers how their accounts will continue to be serviced; and (ii) provide customers with timely and complete answers in response to questions about a departed representative.

The CFTC staff granted Brexit-related no-action relief intended to preserve the status quo following Brexit. In Letter 19-08, the CFTC Division of Market Oversight ("DMO") and the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") provided relief that elements of pre-existing CFTC relief for EU entities will continue to be available for UK entities following Brexit. In particular, the letter covers: (i) swap dealer comparability determinations for (a) entity-level requirements, (b) transaction-level requirements and (c) margin requirements; and (ii) exemptive relief from swap

The U.S. Senate, by a 52-44 party-line vote, confirmed Mark Calabria as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA"). Mr. Calabria will succeed FHFA Acting Director Joseph Otting. As previously covered, Mr. Calabria recently served as the Chief Economist to Vice President Michael Pence. Before that, he served as a senior aide on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee where he helped draft the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Mr. Calabria also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under former