The SEC final rules and a technical amendment intended to encourage broker-dealers to publish research reports on SEC-registered investment companies and business development companies were published in the Federal Register ( see previous coverage). The rules will become effective on January 14, 2019.

Extending the effectiveness of the no-action position it took in 2016, the SEC Division of Trading and Markets granted relief to certain broker-dealers that rely on registered investment advisers for compliance with anti-money laundering (i) Customer Identification Program Rules and (ii) Beneficial Ownership Requirements.

FINRA proposed technical revisions to the Supplemental Statement of Income ("SSOI") required to be filed under FINRA Rule 4524 ("Supplemental FOCUS Information"). The proposal, which is effectively immediately, conforms the SSOI with recently adopted amendments to SEC Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single ("FOCUS") Reports. The amendments would allow broker-dealers to file the same information on both forms. FINRA proposed that the rule change go into effect for SSOIs filed on or after March 31, 2019.

The Federal Reserve Board corrected typographical errors in the final rule implementing single-counterparty credit limits for certain U.S. bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations operating in the United States. The corrections became effective on December 13, 2018.

A Chinese oilfield services company agreed to settle U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") charges that it violated the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. According to OFAC, Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co. Ltd., and its affiliated companies and subsidiaries around the world (collectively, the "Jereh Group"), on at least 11 occasions "exported or re-exported, or attempted to export or re-export," U.S.-based goods to Iran through China, including oilfield equipment. OFAC also said that the Jereh Group undertook these actions with the knowledge that they