The Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Credit Union Administration and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors encouraged financial institutions to work with consumers impacted by the federal government shutdown. The agencies expressed concern that affected borrowers may face hardship with regard to making payments on financial obligations, including mortgages, student loans, car loans, credit cards and other types of debt.

A broker-dealer agreed to settle FINRA charges for failing to supervise sales of variable annuities. According to the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, CFD Investments, Inc. ("CFD Investments") failed to adequately supervise the sale of multi-share class variable annuities to address the suitability of different share classes in light of their different costs and surrender periods. FINRA also alleged that CFD Investments failed to implement sufficient procedures to supervise exchanges of deferred variable annuities. CFD Investments agreed to a censure and to pay a fine of $125,000 to

FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams underscored principles of certainty, consistency, diligence and communication in regulatory supervision. In remarks at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association's Banking Law Committee, Ms. McWilliams emphasized that the FDIC's rules must be clear to those it supervises. She explained that a key component of effective supervision is providing certainty and clarity to regulated institutions and to the regulator's own supervisory staff on how to "operate in a safe and sound manner, be fair to consumers, and comply with applicable laws and regulations." Ms

In "CFIUS and Silicon Valley: We're Still Trying to Find a Cure!," Charles G. Schott, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Financial Stability, highlighted various changes the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act ("FIRRMA") made to the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS"). Mr. Schott explained that FIRRMA expanded CFIUS's powers in two primary ways: (i) CFIUS now has investigatory and intervention abilities over non-controlling interests if a deal results in the acquisition of influence involving "critical technologies"; and (ii) CFIUS

The House of Representatives passed the " Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019" (the "Act"). The bill was introduced by U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (D-IL). The Act provides 2019 appropriations for several federal departments and agencies, including the financial market regulators.