FiSolve Weekly News Digest: May 1, 2026

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

CFTC Sues Wisconsin to Reaffirm its Exclusive Jurisdiction Over Prediction Markets

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin in response to the state’s lawsuits against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and Coinbase, five CFTC-regulated prediction markets. Less than one week ago, Wisconsin filed civil suits against the companies, asserting felony violations of state law. The CFTC’s latest lawsuit comes just a few days after the CFTC sued both Massachusetts and New York, right after these states filed their own lawsuit against prediction markets. Read more here.

SEC Chairman Describes SEC’s “ACT” Strategy

In remarks to the Economic Club in Washington, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins described his “A-C-T” strategy. The Chairman said the strategy rests on three distinct, but interlocking pillars to: advance the SEC’s regulatory frameworks into the modern era – A, clarify the SEC’s jurisdictional lines – C, and transform the SEC rulebook by returning it to first principles- T. The Chairman said every initiative toward which the SEC is working, including every rule that it proposes, every interpretation it releases, and every institutional reform it undertakes, largely falls into at least one of those three categories. Read more here.

Financial Risk Identified as a

Business Risk Hiding in Plain Sight

PwC’s 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey finds that persistent financial stress has become a material workforce and business risk, with 59% of employees reporting current financial anxiety that undermines productivity, engagement, and well being. The study shows many workers are struggling with day to day affordability rather than long term planning: nearly half say their pay is not keeping pace with rising costs, over half lack meaningful emergency savings, and large numbers rely on credit cards or short term borrowing for basic expenses. These pressures are contributing to delayed retirements, retirement plan leakage, and broader workforce planning challenges, particularly for organizations with aging or highly regulated workforces. PwC concludes that for HR and business leaders, especially in industries like financial services, financial wellness should be treated not as a benefit add on but as a strategic lever to protect performance, resilience, and talent sustainability. Read more here.

CFTC Charges U.S. Service Member with Insider Trading in Nicolás Maduro-Related Event Contracts

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against an individual who is an active-duty service member in the U.S. Army for allegedly engaging in in insider trading on Polymarket.com. The complaint alleges the service member used classified nonpublic information regarding U.S. operations to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. The CFTC action seeks restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. Read more here.

FINRA Sanctions Broker-Dealer for Reg BI Failures and Late Private Placement Filings

In a FINRA Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent, a broker-dealer was censured and fined $25,000 for failing, beginning in June 2020, to establish, maintain, and enforce reasonably designed policies and procedures to comply with Regulation Best Interest. This included inadequate guidance on satisfying care, disclosure, and conflict-of-interest obligations and weak supervisory systems; the firm also failed to timely file required documents for six private placement offerings between December 2021 and August 2023, in some cases only after regulatory prompting, in violation of FINRA Rules 3110, 5123, and 2010, and agreed to sanctions including a censure, fine, and corrective undertakings without admitting or denying the findings. Read more here.

OCC Issues Two Interim Final Actions Clarifying Bank Powers under Federal Law and the Preemption of a Related State Law

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced an interim final rule and interim final order related to activities of national banks and Federal savings associations. The interim final rule clarifies the longstanding powers under Federal law for national banks to charge certain fees, regardless of whether those fees are set by the bank or a third party. These preexisting powers under Federal law have recently come into question relative to the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act (IFPA). The IFPA becomes effective on July 1, 2026. The OCC said this IL State Act would create a complex, potentially unworkable, and destabilizing standard, whose effects could be exacerbated to the extent other states impose similarly unworkable or conflicting standards. The OCC’s interim final order confirms that Federal law preempts the IFPA. The OCC is currently accepting comments on the interim rule. Read more here.

ESMA Launches a Call for Evidence on the

Structure of European Equity Markets

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence (CfE) presenting a data driven analysis of the evolution of trading in European equity markets between 2022 and 2025, based on MiFIR transaction reporting data. The CfE invites stakeholder feedback on observed trends and their potential regulatory implications. The analysis shows that European equity markets continue to function well overall with (1) the share of addressable liquidity has remained stable at around 85% of total trading volume, and (2) on‑book trading has also been relatively stable, accounting for around 75–80% of trading volume over the period. At the same time, ESMA observes a decline in lit continuous trading between 2022 and 2025. This decline has been offset by increased activity in other trading mechanisms, mainly closing auctions, frequent batch auctions and systematic internaliser trading. ESMA is inviting comments and requests feedback by June 30, 2026. Read more here.

💡FiSolve's Negotiation Tip of the Week💡

Large, Essential Services Providers

When negotiating with a dominant service provider, the most reliable way to extract concessions is to anchor requests to your non‑negotiable regulatory and fiduciary obligations, not commercial preference. Rather than asking broadly for discounts or flexibility, frame specific asks—such as written confirmation of compliance with Reg S‑P, audit rights, data‑handling representations, incident‑response timelines, or cooperation language, as conditions required for your firm to onboard or continue the relationship. These requests are powerful because they shift the burden to the provider: refusing them puts their deal at risk for reasons that are external, credible, and difficult to argue against. Importantly, these concessions often cost the provider far less than financial concessions, yet materially reduce your risk and increase leverage. By positioning compliance confirmation and governance protections as deal enablers, not “asks,” you are more likely to convert asymmetrical power into concrete, defensible gains.

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