SEC pay-to-play rescission would end rule 206(4)-5 timeout
The SEC's September 3 proposal (IA-6994, File S7-2026-31) would rescind rule 206(4)-5, ending the two-year compensation timeout on adviser contributions.
Rick Steves
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011. He holds a degree in Business Administration and has experience producing real-time news, from both buy-side and sell-side, as well as for retail traders, brokers and service providers. Steves' work has appeared in a variety of online publications including FX Street, NewsBTC, FinanceFeeds, and The Industry Spread. Rick has great interest in the dynamics of the trading industry. The never-ending clash between technology, economics, regulation, and more importantly, the people.
September 2026
Revolut wins US bank charter with retail forex fenced off
OCC Corporate Decision #1390 gives Revolut preliminary conditional approval for a US national bank charter, but fences off its retail foreign exchange business.
Rule 611 bound the venues, best execution binds only brokers
FINRA Notice 26-15 asks how best execution survives the repeal of Rule 611, but Rule 611 binds trading centers and Rule 5310 binds only FINRA members.
TabaPay raises $155m to buy a bank with $1.1m of equity
TabaPay's $155m FTV Capital round funds a Denver bank with $1.07m of equity and $11,000 of half-year profit. The primary-secondary split is not disclosed.
Dolfin’s £25.2m visa scheme drew £446,800 in FCA fines
The FCA fined two former Dolfin executives £446,800 and banned them over a £25.2m visa scheme. A third co-founder contests his ban at the Upper Tribunal.
Monetae’s 70 tokenised US stocks sit in one Alpaca omnibus account
Monetae Markets launched 70 tokenised US equities in El Salvador on Alpaca's Broker API. CNAD's registry shows 70 separate issuances and a second entity.
MAS commits S$220m to fintech, 12% below its 2020 pledge
MAS commits S$220m over three years to FSTI 4.0 - 46.7% above FSTI 3.0 but 12% below the S$250m it pledged over an identical three-year window in 2020.
Bolt raises $27m at $300m, 97.3% below its $11bn mark
Bolt is raising up to $27m in a pay-to-play convertible note at about $300m, 97.3% below its $11bn peak. The clause, not the cheque, is the real story.
Australia’s scam liability regime stops at the banking charter
Australia's Scams Prevention Framework entered phase two on September 1, 2026, but its banking perimeter follows prudential charter, not scam exposure.
August 2026
Swift defers structured address deadline, securities ship in Q1 2027
Swift has deferred the SR2026 structured address deadline for ISO 20022 payments while securities changes ship in Q1 2027. SEPA's November date is unmoved.
The CFTC’s Perez order makes a speech draft inside information
CFTC Docket 26-06 orders a White House teleprompter operator to pay $172,539 for insider trading Kalshi mention markets on presidential speech drafts.
Mastercard and QNB run Syria’s first card payment in over 15 years
QNB Syria processed the first international card payment in over 15 years four days after the US delisting - but OFAC, not the terrorism list, cleared it.
Monte dei Paschi, rescued for €5.4bn, now bids €34bn for two rivals
Monte dei Paschi's €34bn all-share bids for Banco BPM and Banca Generali carry no premium on the BPM leg, and hinge on two shareholders who have not agreed.
ESMA splits the EU commodity position report before ITS 4 is law
From September 3 EU venues file two weekly commodity position reports under ESMA's v2.0 schema, while the ITS 4 amendment behind them stays unadopted.
re:cap’s lending doubled to €200m since its €125m UK facility
re:cap's €125m UK facility was debt, not a raise. Its arranged lending has since doubled to €200m — with no UK entity on the Companies House register.
Socure buys Fravity at $5.2bn, up 15.6% on its 2021 mark
Socure's $5.2bn growth investment and Fravity acquisition put its valuation just 15.6% above the $4.5bn mark it set back in 2021, despite 63% ARR growth.
The CFTC’s compute derivatives notice is a manipulation brief
The CFTC's request for comment on compute derivatives, RIN 3038-AF77, asks whether an index its own suppliers administer can settle a futures contract.
BitGo buys NYDIG’s derivatives desk for $42.5m, 84% in stock
BitGo's press release skipped the price. Its 8-K puts $42.5m upfront on NYDIG's derivatives desk, 84% of it in BTGO stock, plus $15m of revenue earn-outs.
RQD Clearing lands $74m Bain Capital growth investment
RQD* Clearing takes a $74m Bain Capital-led growth round while already clearing 2.43% of US equities, as DTCC tokenisation makes clearing firms the chokepoint.
Vanguard’s reported $4.6bn Altruist deal undoes its 2003 custody exit
Vanguard is buying Altruist for a reported $4.6bn, re-entering the RIA custody market it quietly sold off in 2003 - and it was already an Altruist investor.
Also filing this week: Karthik Subramanian and Abdelaziz Fathi.