The Federal Reserve Board corrected typographical errors in the final rule implementing single-counterparty credit limits for certain U.S. bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations operating in the United States. The corrections became effective on December 13, 2018.

The SEC final rules and a technical amendment intended to encourage broker-dealers to publish research reports on SEC-registered investment companies and business development companies were published in the Federal Register ( see previous coverage). The rules will become effective on January 14, 2019.

SEC Chair Jay Clayton and SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein highlighted (i) the increasing number of investor requests for improved environmental, social and governance ("ESG") disclosures, and (ii) the need to improve the arbitration awards process. In remarks to the SEC Investor Advisory Committee, Mr. Clayton stated that the agency observed an increasing number of issuers disclosing ESG information and requests for ESG information by investors. He argued that (i) companies should focus on providing material disclosures that investors need in order to make informed investment and voting

SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson Jr. urged regulators to create greater transparency as to proxy voting by institutional investors, particularly index funds and other passive investors. Mr. Jackson stressed that such institutional investors cast votes in corporate elections on behalf of more than 100 million families that own shares in funds. In testimony before the Federal Trade Commission Hearing on Competition and Consumer Protection, Mr. Jackson asserted that "we are at a crucial moment in financial history, with corporate elections now being decided by only a handful of index fund

A Chinese oilfield services company agreed to settle U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") charges that it violated the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations. According to OFAC, Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co. Ltd., and its affiliated companies and subsidiaries around the world (collectively, the "Jereh Group"), on at least 11 occasions "exported or re-exported, or attempted to export or re-export," U.S.-based goods to Iran through China, including oilfield equipment. OFAC also said that the Jereh Group undertook these actions with the knowledge that they