A New York state-chartered bank agreed to settle SEC charges of improperly handling "pre-released" American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs"). According to the SEC Order, the Bank of New York Mellon (the "Bank") provided ADRs to brokers in thousands of pre-release transactions when neither the brokers nor the customers had the necessary foreign shares needed to support those new ADRs. The SEC stated that as a result of the Bank's conduct, ADRs that were not backed by ordinary shares, as required by the ADR facility, were issued. To settle the charges, the Bank agreed to disgorge over $29.3 million

The FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the SEC and the CFTC (collectively, the "agencies") proposed excluding certain community banks from the Volcker Rule.

The SEC named Daniel Kahl as SEC Office of Compliance Inspection and Examinations ("OCIE") Deputy Director. Mr. Kahl has been serving as OCIE's Chief Counsel since February 2016. He will continue in that role. Along with current Deputy Director Kristin Snyder, Mr. Kahl will supervise OCIE's strategic initiatives, as well as counsel OCIE leadership on various policy matters regarding the agency's National Exam Program. Mr. Kahl joined the SEC in 2001. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Kahl had been an attorney with the Investment Adviser Association, FINRA and the North American Securities

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance granted no-action relief to a bank from being considered an "ineligible issuer" under Securities Act Rule 405, subject to certain conditions.

A broker-dealer (the "Firm") agreed to pay $14.5 million to settle allegations by FinCEN, FINRA and the SEC of deficiencies in its anti-money laundering ("AML") program. According to FINRA, the Firm allegedly failed to establish and implement AML programs designed to monitor specific high-risk transactions in customer accounts, including foreign currency wire transfers and transactions in "penny stocks." According to FinCEN, the Firm failed to develop and implement a risk-based AML program associated with accounts that included both traditional brokerage and banking-like services. In addition