📈SEC Proposes New Hosted Solutions Program for Small Retail Brokers
The SEC has issued a notice regarding a proposed rule change from Cboe BZX Exchange to introduce a Small Retail Broker Hosted Solutions Program. This program aims to provide fee waivers and updated eligibility requirements for small retail brokers, facilitating better access to market data for retail investors and competing with other exchanges.
Learn More🏥Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Regulations Overview
This final rule revises standards relating to denial of coverage for failure to pay past-due premium; excludes Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients from the definition of "lawfully present;" establishes the evidentiary standard HHS uses to assess an agent's, broker's, or web-broker's potential noncompliance; revises the Exchange automatic reenrollment hierarchy; revises standards related to the annual open enrollment period and special enrollment periods; revises standards relating to failure to file and reconcile, income eligibility verifications for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions, annual eligibility redeterminations, de minimis thresholds for the actuarial value for plans subject to essential health benefits (EHB) requirements, and income-based cost-sharing reduction plan variations. This final rule also revises the premium adjustment percentage methodology and prohibits issuers of coverage subject to EHB requirements from providing coverage for specified sex-trait modification procedures as an EHB.
Learn More📜Civil Penalties Schedule Update by FMCSA
FMCSA amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to remove the reference to rules under the Department of Transportation's "Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Program" from the civil penalty schedule in the FMCSRs. Instead, the civil penalty schedule will refer solely to the part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) where this program is incorporated into the FMCSRs. Because the rule does not impose any new material requirements or increase compliance obligations, it is issued without prior notice and opportunity for comment, pursuant to the good cause exception in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
Learn More🚌FMCSA Proposes Removal of Obsolete Water Carrier References
FMCSA proposes to remove all obsolete references to "water carriers" in the FMCSA regulations (FMCSRs). FMCSA does not specifically regulate water carriers except to the extent that such carriers also engage in motor carrier operations. In such cases, the existing FMCSRs provide appropriate coverage of the carrier's motor carrier operations.
Learn More🔒Proposed FinCEN Regulations on Huione Group's Money Laundering Risks
FinCEN is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), pursuant to section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act, that proposes prohibiting the opening or maintaining of a correspondent account in the United States for, or on behalf of, Huione Group, a foreign financial institution based in Cambodia found to be of primary money laundering concern. The NPRM also would require covered financial institutions to apply special due diligence to their foreign correspondent accounts that is reasonably designed to guard against their use to process transactions involving Huione Group.
Learn More🚛Financial Responsibility Requirements for Motor Carriers and Brokers
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. FMCSA requests approval to renew an ICR titled, "Financial Responsibility Motor Carriers, Freight Forwarders, and Brokers." The purpose of this ICR is to provide registered motor carriers, property brokers, and freight forwarders a means of meeting financial responsibility filing requirements. This ICR sets forth the financial responsibility documentation requirements for motor carriers, freight forwarders, and brokers as a result of Agency jurisdictional statutes. On January 6, 2025, FMCSA published a 60-day notice in the Federal Register announcing its intention to submit this ICR to OMB for renewal. FMCSA received two comments in response to the published notice.
Learn More📉Treasury Direct Final Rule on Eliminating Unnecessary Regulations
Pursuant to an Executive order, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) is conducting a review of existing regulations, with the goal of reducing regulatory burden by revoking or revising existing regulations that meet the criteria set forth in the Executive order. In support of that objective, this direct final rule streamlines titles 12 and 31 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by removing regulations that are no longer necessary or no longer have any current or future applicability.
Learn More📄Update on Beneficial Ownership Reporting Requirements and Exemptions
FinCEN is adopting this interim final rule to narrow the existing beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) to require only entities previously defined as "foreign reporting companies" to report BOI. Under this interim final rule, entities previously defined as "domestic reporting companies" are exempted from the reporting requirements and do not have to report BOI to FinCEN, or update or correct BOI previously reported to FinCEN. With limited exceptions, the interim final rule does not change the existing requirement for foreign reporting companies to file BOI reports, but it extends the deadline to file initial BOI reports, and to update or correct previously filed BOI reports, to 30 days from the date of this publication to give foreign reporting companies additional time to comply. However, the interim final rule exempts foreign reporting companies from having to report the BOI of any U.S. persons who are beneficial owners of the foreign reporting company and exempts U.S. persons from having to provide such information to any foreign reporting company for which they are a beneficial owner. FinCEN is accepting comments on this interim final rule. FinCEN will assess the exemptions, as appropriate, in light of those comments and intends to issue a final rule this year.
Learn More🏥Proposed Rule for Marketplace Integrity Under the ACA
This proposed rule would revise standards relating to past-due premium payments; exclude Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients from the definition of "lawfully present"; the evidentiary standard HHS uses to assess an agent's, broker's, or web-broker's potential noncompliance; failure to file and reconcile; income eligibility verifications for premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions; annual eligibility redetermination; the automatic reenrollment hierarchy; the annual open enrollment period; special enrollment periods; de minimis thresholds for the actuarial value for plans subject to essential health benefits (EHB) requirements and for income-based cost-sharing reduction plan variations; and the premium adjustment percentage methodology; and prohibit issuers of coverage subject to EHB requirements from providing coverage for sex-trait modification as an EHB.
Learn More📉New Margin Requirements for Futures Commission Merchants Effective March 2025
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is amending its regulations, adopted under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), to require a futures commission merchant (FCM) to ensure a customer does not withdraw funds from its account with the FCM if the balance in the account after the withdrawal would be insufficient to meet the customer's initial margin requirements; and relatedly, to permit an FCM, subject to certain requirements, to treat the separate accounts of a single customer as accounts of separate entities for purposes of certain Commission regulations.
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