From a possible rollback of the pay-to-play rule to a $300 million lesson in due diligence, this week’s news is a reminder that regulatory relief and enforcement risk often arrive side by side. Here are five stories worth your attention, with plenty more in this week’s roundup:

• SEC proposes scrapping the IA pay-to-play rule: Rescinding Rule 206(4)-5 would eliminate the two-year compensation ban and related requirements. Until the proposal is adopted, advisers should keep their current policies in place.
• A $300 million due diligence lesson: The SEC found that an adviser and its CEO breached their fiduciary duties by ignoring red flags in a fund liquidation strategy that ended in steep losses after a SPAC deal.
• Repeated exam findings lead to a Reg SCI penalty: A trading platform operator agreed to a $575,000 penalty after years of unaddressed cybersecurity and systems policy deficiencies.
• CFTC flags “mention markets”: A staff advisory warns that event contracts tied to what people say or where they appear carry elevated manipulation risk.
• IPOs are back: SEC data show 208 IPOs raising more than $137 billion, up from 180 IPOs raising about $27 billion in the same period of 2025.

And that’s not all. Also in this week’s roundup: a $1.2 million FINRA restitution order over UIT supervision, the SEC EXAMS director’s push for more transparent exams, ESMA’s new supervisory priority on AI and tokenisation, and fresh data on pay, flexibility, and retention in financial services. Read the full update from FiSolve here.

Innovation and accountability went hand in hand this week. Regulators made room for tokenized trading and new crypto business models while sharpening expectations for compliance programs and whistleblower incentives. Here are four highlights, with more to explore in this week’s roundup:

• SEC grants an “innovation exemption” for tokenized stocks: A five-year conditional order lets Tokenized Securities Venues trade tokenized NMS stock using automated market makers and liquidity pools. It comes with safeguards like volume limits, equal shareholder rights, and auditable smart contracts, and the SEC is seeking public comment.
• SEC risk alert on annual compliance reviews: Examiners found recurring issues with the timeliness of advisers’ reviews, documentation, adherence to their own policies, and follow-through on corrective actions.
• CFTC finalizes whistleblower award presumption: Awards of $5 million or less will be presumed at 30 percent, subject to CFTC discretion. The rule is modeled on the SEC’s Rule 21F-6(c).
• FCA maps out its crypto regime: New guidance explains which activities will need authorization, including stablecoin issuance, trading platforms, custody, and staking, ahead of the regime’s October 25, 2027 start date.

And there’s more. Also in this week’s roundup: the SEC’s proposal to rescind the IA pay-to-play rule, CISA’s case for using cyber decoys to catch attackers, and a look at how AI and skills-based hiring are reshaping HR priorities for 2027. Read the full update from FiSolve here.

This week’s financial industry news highlights continued regulatory activity across enforcement, compliance, technology risk, and market reform:

• The SEC launched a new unit focused on financial reporting and accounting fraud
• FINRA imposed a $20 million penalty for anti-money laundering failures
• EU regulators warned that frontier AI models may create heightened cyber and operational risks for financial firms
• the UK FCA moved to streamline IPO rules by eliminating certain requirements related to unconnected analyst research

Read the full update from FiSolve here.

This week’s financial industry news highlights regulatory enforcement actions, evolving market risks, operational challenges, and emerging governance expectations:

• ETF compliance and disclosure failures draw SEC scrutiny
• ETF growth fuels concerns over speculation and investor risk
• States target digital payments fraud and consumer protection gaps
• CFTC proposes new affiliate governance standards
• SEC cites broker-dealer net capital violations
• FINRA penalizes deficient AML monitoring programs
• FCA emphasizes resilience across interconnected financial networks

Read the full update from FiSolve here.