GRC Report Staff

PCAOB Concludes 13th Annual Auditing and Capital Markets Research Conference

The PCAOB concluded its two-day 13th annual Conference on Auditing and Capital Markets on September 11, 2026, featuring 10 academic papers on audit oversight, technology, partner quality, and disclosure. The event imposes no new requirements, but it signals research themes that may shape future PCAOB standards, inspection priorities, and oversight. Compliance and audit-related teams should treat it as a forward-looking indicator rather than an action item.

ECB Working Paper Finds Household Heterogeneity Drives Sectoral Fiscal Spillovers in Open Economies

This ECB working paper (No 3279) uses a two-sector open-economy HANK model to show that government spending concentrated in services also lifts goods-sector output, mainly because constrained households spend additional income. It is academic research, not binding regulation, and carries an explicit disclaimer that it does not represent ECB views. Compliance teams should treat it as background context for macro scenario design and not as a source of new obligations.

BaFin Warns Against Unauthorized Banking and Crypto Services Offered via berlinbank(.)eu

BaFin issued a public warning on September 14, 2026, that the operator of berlinbank(.)eu is offering banking and cryptocurrency services in Germany without the required authorization. The warning is a reminder that unlicensed activity, impersonation, and online investment fraud remain active threats. Compliance teams should use it to refresh screening, monitoring, and customer-protection controls.

AMLA Board Member Stresses Cross-Border Cooperation and Feedback Loops in Financial Intelligence

AMLA Executive Board Member Hennie Verbeek-Kusters used the 83rd IBSA General Membership Meeting in Brussels on September 14, 2026 to outline AMLA's priorities for financial intelligence. She emphasized relevant, accurate and timely intelligence, stronger feedback loops across the AML/CFT system, cross-border information-sharing, and new public-private information-sharing mechanisms. Compliance teams should treat this as a signal of supervisory expectations on suspicious activity reporting quality and cooperation.

FCA Announces Liquidation of Small Payment Institution PPS Money; Customer Funds Unprotected

Premier Payment Solutions Ltd (trading as PPS Money and MTBS), a UK small payment institution, entered voluntary liquidation on September 10, 2026, and joint liquidators from BTG Begbies Traynor have been appointed. Customer funds are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and small payment institutions are not required to safeguard funds under the Payment Services Regulations 2017. Compliance teams at firms with exposure to PPS Money, whether as customers, counterparties, or agent networks, should assess their positions promptly.

DNB Analysis Finds Financial and Geopolitical Uncertainty Weakens Monetary Policy Transmission

De Nederlandsche Bank published an analysis showing that interest rate changes have a smaller and less apparent effect on growth and inflation when uncertainty is high, particularly financial and geopolitical uncertainty. The publication is not a rule and imposes no obligations, but it matters for compliance and risk teams because it challenges assumptions about how quickly and fully rate moves flow through to the economy, and it bears on stress testing, scenario design, and interest rate risk management.

OSFI Superintendent Signals Risk Appetite Shift Toward Growth, Competition, and Capital Relief

Superintendent Routledge announced that OSFI is recalibrating its risk appetite. Financial system resilience remains the primary responsibility, but OSFI is adding an enhanced focus on supporting sustainable economic growth and on promoting competitive intensity. Compliance teams should expect capital amendments this fall and in 2027, easier market entry, and an annual regulatory burden reduction program. These changes will affect capital planning, supervisory engagement, and regulatory change management.