The SEC proposed to codify an existing exemption available to rating agencies with respect to their obligations under conflicts of interest. The proposal was published in the Federal Register. Comments must be received by November 5, 2018. As previously covered, the exemptions under Exchange Act Rule 17g-5(a)(3) would be available only if (i) the issuer of the relevant security is not a U.S. person and (ii) the rating agency reasonably believes that all offers and sales of the instrument will occur outside the United States, in each case as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance updated guidance to the issuers of asset-backed securities ("ABS") on procedures for filings on the EDGAR system. As previously covered, the guidance was originally issued to reflect revisions to Regulation AB and Exchange Act Rule 15Ga-2. The updated guidance clarifies that an issuer is not required to obtain Central Index Key Codes (CIK) for an issuing entity when furnishing the Form ABS-15G in connection with unregistered securities offerings. The guidance covers the procedures that a filer ( e.g., an ABS depositor) must use in the EDGAR system to

A multinational bank agreed to pay approximately $5 million to settle a U.S. Department of the Treasury ("Treasury") Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") investigation to settle charges concerning apparent violations of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations. OFAC stated that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMC") self-disclosed the violations. In so doing, OFAC stated that it considered the violations to constitute a "non-egregious" case. Separately, OFAC issued a

In a new advisory, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") alerted financial institutions to the risk that proceeds of political corruption from Nicaragua may enter the U.S. financial system.

The CFTC Technology Advisory Committee ("TAC") public meeting was held on October 5, 2018. There were four panels at the meeting: a virtual currencies subcommittee presentation and digital asset security discussion; an automated and modern trading markets subcommittee presentation; a RegTech and robo-rulebook discussion; and a distributed ledger technology and market infrastructure subcommittee presentation.