The SEC request for comment on the "nature, content and timing" of quarterly reports submitted by reporting companies was published in the Federal Register. Comments must be received by March 21, 2019. As previously covered, the SEC is specifically seeking feedback on: the relationship between the quarterly reports that Exchange Act reporting companies are required to provide on Form 10-Q and the earnings releases they voluntarily provide on Form 8-K; whether SEC rules should "provide reporting companies, or certain classes of reporting companies, with flexibility as to the frequency of their

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, and the FDIC (collectively, the "agencies") adopted a final rule to provide banking organizations the option to "phase in over a three-year period the day-one" regulatory capital effects of the "Current Expected Credit Losses" ("CECL") methodology. In 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board released a new expected credit loss accounting standard which introduced the CECL for estimating allowances for credit losses. The final rule addressed changes to credit loss accounting under U.S. generally accepted accounting

FINRA proposed a rule change to extend the "time for non-parties to respond to arbitration subpoenas and orders of appearance of witnesses or production of documents." The proposed rule change also makes corresponding changes intended to improve the discovery process.

Two robo-advisers agreed to settle SEC charges for making false statements and publishing misleading advertising regarding certain investment products. The settlements are the SEC's first enforcement actions taken against robo-advisers. According to the SEC Order against Wealthfront Advisers LLC ("Wealthfront"), Wealthfront allegedly made inaccurate statements about a tax loss harvesting strategy that it offered to clients. The SEC claimed that Wealthfront promised clients that it would monitor all client accounts for transactions that may trigger a "wash sale" ( i.e., when an investor sells a

The CFTC Office of Inspector General ("OIG") alleged that the CFTC's stress-testing capabilities for testing margin models associated with uncleared swaps have been undermined by "a failure of leadership, poor decision-making, and territoriality" in the Risk Surveillance Branch of the Division of Clearing and Risk. The report by the OIG resulted from allegations of mismanagement conveyed to it "by multiple CFTC whistleblowers." The allegations, which appear in the OIG's Semiannual Report issued on December 14, 2018, and which refer to a report by the same office issued earlier in the year