FiSolve Weekly News Digest: April 10, 2026

Here is what we are reading in the news this week...

SEC Appoints David Woodcock as

Director of the Division of Enforcement

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that David Woodcock has been appointed Director of the Division of Enforcement, effective May 4, 2026.  Sam Waldon will continue to serve as Acting Director of the Enforcement Division until May 4.  Mr. Woodcock returns to the Commission after serving as Director of the Fort Worth Regional Office from 2011 to 2015. During his prior SEC tenure, Mr. Woodcock led Enforcement and Examinations Division lawyers, accountants, and examiners, oversaw investigations in nearly every major area of the SEC’s enforcement program, served as a member of the Enforcement Advisory Committee, and created and served as Chair of the SEC’s cross-office and cross-division Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, which was designed to enhance the SEC’s detection and prosecution of violations involving accounting and false financial statements.  Read more here.

Significant SEC Action Addresses Misleading Private Fund Offerings and Registration Failures, $2.4 Million in Disgorgement and Penalties 

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against an unregistered private fund sponsor and its affiliated entities for violating federal securities laws through unregistered offerings and misleading communications with investors.  The SEC found that over several years the respondents raised approximately $90 million from primarily individual investors by portraying fund investments as “low risk, high return,” overstating track records, falsely claiming participation by well known institutional co investors, omitting material negative information about portfolio companies, and failing to disclose significant conflicts of interest, while operating funds that should have been registered as investment companies.  Without admitting or denying the findings, the respondents agreed to cease and desist from further violations, one principal accepted a broad industry bar, the entities were censured, and the respondents were ordered to pay more than $1.7 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and a $600,000 civil penalty, with collected funds to be returned to harmed investors where feasible.  Read more here.

Report Finds Employee Engagement Drops

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report finds that global employee engagement fell to about 21% in 2024, one of the lowest levels in more than a decade.  This is seen as driven primarily by a sharp decline in manager engagement, while stress, burnout, and life dissatisfaction rose across regions, costing the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity.  The report shows that managers account for roughly 70% of the variation in team engagement, and younger and female managers experienced the steepest drops, signaling a systemic leadership strain rather than a frontline-only issue.  The report links sustained disengagement to higher absenteeism, lower customer loyalty, and weaker financial outcomes. The findings emphasize that in knowledge  and risk intensive industries like banking, asset management, and insurance, under supported managers can amplify operational risk and talent attrition, while targeted investments in manager training and development offer one of the fastest paths to restoring productivity, resilience, and sustainable performance.  Read more here.

New FINRA Foundation Research Examines the Characteristics, Behaviors and Outcomes of Retail Investors Who Use Social Media

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s April 2, 2026 study, Finfluencer Followers and Social Media Scrollers, examines the characteristics, behaviors, and outcomes of retail investors who rely on social media and “finfluencers” for investment decisions, using data from the 2024 National Financial Capability Study.  The research finds that while social media appears to broaden market participation and engagement, it also reveals a significant knowledge/confidence gap: many social-media-informed investors rate their investing knowledge highly despite scoring relatively low on objective measures.  This combination of overconfidence and limited investing knowledge is associated with substantially higher exposure to, and victimization by, investment fraud, underscoring the need for more targeted financial education to help investors better assess information quality, risks, and fraud warning signs.  Read more here.

SEC Announces Enforcement Results for Fiscal Year 2025

The SEC announced enforcement results for fiscal year 2025, highlighting a strategic reset that prioritizes investor protection and adherence to congressional intent over headline-driven case volume.  The SEC reported filing 456 enforcement actions and obtaining $17.9 billion in monetary relief, but emphasized that, after adjusting for amounts deemed satisfied elsewhere and legacy cases, net relief was far lower, reflecting a more disciplined approach.  The SEC explained that FY 2025 marked a transitional period in which it moved away from “regulation by enforcement,” curtailed the pursuit of novel legal theories with limited investor benefit, and refocused resources on core fraud, market manipulation, disclosure violations, and breaches of fiduciary duty, with a renewed emphasis on holding individual wrongdoers accountable and returning funds to harmed investors.  Read more here.

OCC and FDIC Issue Final Rule Eliminating

“Reputation Risk” from Bank Supervision

The OCC and FDIC jointly issued a final rule prohibiting the use of “reputation risk” as a basis for supervisory criticism or enforcement actions.  The rule formally removes reputation risk from examination frameworks and bars regulators from pressuring banks to deny or terminate services based solely on customers’ political, social, cultural, or religious views when activities are otherwise lawful.  The agencies cited Executive Order 14331, Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans, as a key driver.  Read more here.

FinCEN Issues Proposed Rule to Fundamentally Reform AML/CFT Programs

FinCEN released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to overhaul AML/CFT program expectations under the Bank Secrecy Act, implementing reforms mandated by the Anti‑Money Laundering Act of 2020.  The proposal refocuses programs on outcomes and risk judgments made by institutions and clarifies FinCEN’s central role in supervision and interagency coordination.  If adopted, the rule would reshape AML governance, audits, and examiner expectations , align federal supervisory agencies under a single effectiveness driven framework, and supersede FinCEN’s July 2024 AML proposal entirely.  Read more here.

Central Bank of Ireland Publishes Financial Stability Assessments of the Non-Bank Sector

The Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”) announced it is shifting its approach to the non-bank financial sector toward stronger implementation of existing policies and enhanced financial stability surveillance, reflecting the sector’s growing role and complexity.  Speaking at an industry event, Deputy Governor Vasileios Madouros highlighted new CBI research showing that while the Irish hedge fund sector (managing about €400 billion in assets) is unlikely to pose systemic risk on its own, high leverage in certain fund strategies could amplify stress if shocks are correlated internationally.  Separate research on investment funds found that although liquidity management tools are widely available, they are used far less consistently in practice, prompting the Bank to set clearer best-practice guidance and make their use a supervisory priority.  Overall, the CBI stressed that strengthening the resilience of the non-bank sector is essential to safeguarding financial stability while supporting the continued development of capital markets in Ireland and Europe.  Read more here.

📣 WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT 📣

COMPLIANCE ANONYMOUS

FiSolve's next Compliance Anonymous session is set for 12 PM ET on April 15. This confidential forum brings together legal, compliance, and operations professionals to openly discuss real-world challenges without attribution or judgment.  Participation is free, but to ensure meaningful engagement, seating is limited. Reserve your spot here.  

💡FiSolve's Negotiation Tip of the Week💡

Cultural Considerations

In cross border or multicultural financial services negotiations, invest early in understanding how culture shapes decision making authority, communication style, and risk tolerance before anchoring on terms.  Executive counterparts from high context cultures may value relationship building, indirect language, and consensus alignment, while low context cultures may prioritize speed, precision, and explicit commitments; misreading these signals can stall deals or erode trust.  Demonstrate cultural intelligence by adjusting pacing, framing proposals in locally resonant risk/return narratives, clarifying who truly holds decision rights, and showing respect for protocol and hierarchy.  These behaviors often matter as much as the numbers and can materially improve outcomes in high stakes negotiations.  Do your homework in advance and consider hiring a local expert.  It may prove well worth the cost! 

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