Compliance & Ethics

DNB and the AFM have published their monthly sanctions alert, detailing regulatory amendments and rectifications affecting sanctions regimes related to ISIS/Al Qaeda, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Libya during August 2026. Dutch financial institutions must assess whether these changes impact their customer base, transactions, or investments and take immediate action if a sanctions hit is identified.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority has issued a warning regarding sygnumglobal.co, an entity referencing a Swiss issuer that appears to be operating without proper authorization. The warning cross-references a FINMA (Switzerland) warning list entry, suggesting this is a case of potential brand impersonation or unlicensed cross-border financial activity targeting consumers.

The AFM announced that outgoing director Jos Heuvelman has been named an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of his decades-long contribution to Dutch and European financial regulation. This is a personnel and ceremonial announcement with no direct regulatory, supervisory, or compliance obligations attached.

The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight has issued a no-action letter allowing Electron Exchange DCM LLC to submit large trader reports on behalf of direct participants as if its contracts were exclusively self-cleared. This relief streamlines reporting obligations for the exchange and its participants, though compliance teams should confirm their reporting arrangements remain consistent with the no-action conditions.

The CFTC has finalized amendments to its interest rate swap clearing requirement, removing CDOR- and TIIE-referencing swaps from mandatory clearing and replacing them with CAD- and MXN-denominated overnight risk-free rate swaps. Compliance teams at swap dealers and major market participants must update clearing determination processes and trading documentation ahead of the new effective date.

Finansinspektionen's survey of Swedish market participants finds strong overall readiness for the move to T+1 settlement, with 84-88% of respondents reporting preparedness for the December 2026 and October 2027 deadlines, respectively. However, smaller firms lag behind larger institutions, and most companies have not committed to industry-wide testing, raising concerns about operational resilience ahead of the transition.

The FCA has published a warning identifying Aurum Foundation Limited as an unauthorized entity potentially targeting UK consumers, with the alert also being disseminated by the Norway Financial Supervisory Authority. Compliance teams should treat this as a consumer protection and fraud-prevention alert, ensuring no client or counterparty relationships exist with this entity.