GRC Report Staff

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued a warning in its latest risk monitoring report, showing that geopolitical tensions, cyber threats, and volatile investor sentiment are combining to keep risks in EU financial markets at high or very high levels. The findings, published in ESMA’s second risk report of 2025, point to vulnerabilities across equities, bonds, crypto-assets, and the wider financial infrastructure.

Shoppers thought they were getting a little extra bang for their buck. Instead, thousands walked away from The Good Guys’ stores only to find their promised “StoreCash” vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has wrapped up what Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham dubbed an “enforcement sprint,” issuing six simultaneous orders against 10 financial firms and securing $8.325 million in penalties. The initiative, unveiled in March, was designed to clear a backlog of long-running compliance cases that had consumed enforcement bandwidth for years.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken its first enforcement action under the INFORM Consumers Act, ordering Temu’s parent company Whaleco to pay a $2 million civil penalty for alleged violations of the law.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined Instinet Pacific Limited (Instinet) $1 million (HK$8 million) after uncovering a years-long failure to comply with reporting requirements for cross trades on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).

The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is calling on financial institutions to lean into cross-border cooperation in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, while making clear that the wall protecting Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) remains firmly in place.

Ireland’s Commission for Communications Regulation, better known as ComReg, has moved to sharpen consumer protections by revising the minimum standards for how telecom and internet providers deal with complaints. The regulator said the goal is to remove the ambiguity that customers, both individuals and businesses, often face when raising issues with their providers.