Securities Regulatory Roundup | July-August 2026

The most persistent theme of the month is the continued shift of AI from an information-security topic to a compliance and business-governance one. On August 2, 2026, transparency obligations under Article 50 of the EU AI Act began to apply. The European Commission’s AI Act update states that these obligations are intended to help people recognize when they are interacting with AI or exposed to AI-generated content, including chatbot or AI-agent interactions, deepfakes, AI-generated public-interest text without human review, and emotion-recognition or biometric-categorization tools.

The Commission’s final transparency guidance also clarifies the split between providers and deployers. Providers must design directly interactive systems so individuals are informed that they are interacting with AI and must add machine-readable marks to enable detection of AI-generated or manipulated content. Deployers must inform individuals when they are exposed to emotion-recognition systems, biometric-categorization tools, deepfakes, or AI-generated text on matters of public interest without human review or editorial control.

FINRA released Regulatory Notice 26-14, proposing amendments to its communications with the public rule that would move Rule 2210 away from its longstanding, prescriptive principal pre-use approval model toward a risk-based supervisory framework better suited to social media, digital communications, and AI-generated content.

If adopted, principal pre-use approval would no longer be mandatory for every retail communication. Instead, firms would establish written, risk-based supervisory procedures to determine which communications require pre-use approval, supported by documented training, surveillance, follow-up, and evidence that procedures were implemented and carried out. FINRA also proposes to remove the static-versus-interactive distinction for social media and to streamline certain retail communication filing requirements and standards for communications containing recommendations, while preserving the substantive content standards that communications be fair and balanced and not misleading.

The SEC now has until October 1, 2026, to determine whether to approve proposed FINRA Rule 3290, which would replace the current outside business activity (OBA) and private securities transaction (PST) rules, Rules 3270 and 3280. FINRA describes the proposal as focusing on outside activities within members’ purview that potentially present heightened risks, while reducing unnecessary burdens.

FINRA proposed shortening the required qualification examination retake waiting periods to 15 days after the first and second failed attempts, and 60 days after the third and any subsequent failed attempt occurring within a two-year period. The change would apply only to FINRA qualification exams, not to NASAA or MSRB exams.

NASAA has separately announced a change to their Series 63, 65, and 66 qualification examination waiting period tied to a third and subsequent failure, reducing it from 180 days to 60 days. That change is effective January 1, 2027. Interestingly, NASAA has not approved reducing their qualification examination waiting periods after the first and second failures to 15 days consistent with the FINRA proposal — they intend to retain the 30-day waiting period after the first and second failures. This divergence in uniformity is certainly noteworthy.

The MSRB has not yet issued a formal proposal to change the waiting periods associated with failures of their qualification examinations.

FINRA and the CE Council released topics under consideration for the 2027 Regulatory Element learning plan as of June 22, 2026. The topics remain subject to change, with the final learning plan topics expected by October 1, 2026. Topics under consideration include:

• Gifts
• Regulation Best Interest’s Care Obligation — third component
• Communications issues relating to AI, finfluencers, and social media
• Political contributions and prohibitions on municipal securities business
• Client market access controls, and financial and operational market access controls
• Private placement filings
• Prepublication review of research reports

FINRA amended Rule 3210 to add an exception from the rule’s requirements for accounts established under Section 530A of the Internal Revenue Code, known as Trump Accounts. FINRA states that the rule change became effective June 17, 2026, and that Trump Accounts are not subject to FINRA Rule 3210.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule amending margin requirements for uncleared swaps. Firms with derivatives operations should evaluate the operational and training implications of the revised requirements.

The July NPRM addresses affiliations between Designated Contract Markets (DCMs), Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCOs), Swaps Execution Facilities (SEFs), Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs), market makers, and other regulated entities, and the potential conflicts of interest arising from vertically integrated market structures and governance and market integrity safeguards.

This final order eliminated routine daily and event-based reporting under Part 20 for physical commodity swaps, after it was determined that newer swap data reporting frameworks largely made the reporting redundant. The CFTC has retained recordkeeping and special-call authority as a transitional measure, and these actions significantly reduced recurring reporting obligations.

Investment adviser representative continuing education (IAR CE) continues its staggered, state-by-state expansion. Missouri and Washington have recently proposed an IAR CE requirement. Washington’s proposal is consistent with the NASAA IAR CE Model and will become effective January 1, 2027, assuming it is adopted in 2026. Missouri’s proposal, however, is not consistent with the NASAA model and is expected to be withdrawn.