Daily · OFAC Designations and Routine Regulatory Updates · October 28, 2026

Key points

OFAC Adds Persons and Vessels to SDN List

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published a notice designating one or more persons and vessels on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List). This is a continuation of previous OFAC actions reported in earlier digests.

OFAC determined that applicable legal criteria were satisfied for each designation. Consequently, all property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction belonging to these designated persons are blocked. US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the newly designated parties. The vessels placed on the list have been identified as property in which a blocked person has an interest.

Compliance and risk teams must immediately screen for these newly designated persons and vessels to ensure no prohibited transactions occur. Because the specific names were not provided in the source material, institutions should monitor the official OFAC SDN List publication directly for the detailed identifiers required for screening updates.

SEC Grants Conditional Relief on Customer Margin

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order under Section 36 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 granting conditional exemptive relief. This relief concerns the treatment of customer margin under Item 13 and Note F of Exhibit A to Rule 15c3-3. The action affects how broker-dealers and clearing firms calculate and report customer margin within the SEC's reserve requirements framework.

Swiss SECO Updates ISIL and Al-Kaida Sanctions List

Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) published an updated list of sanctioned natural persons, companies, and organisations. The list is maintained under the Ordinance of 21 March 2025 on measures against persons and organisations linked to ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Kaida (SR 946.231.08). Swiss financial institutions and compliance teams must update their screening lists to reflect these new designations.

UK Lifetime ISA Amendments

The UK government made the Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2026, which amend the Individual Savings Account Regulations 1998. These amendments relate specifically to Lifetime ISAs and affect UK-based financial product providers and advisers managing these accounts.

Market Infrastructure Rule Changes

MEMX LLC filed a proposed rule change to amend Rule 11.15 (Clearly Erroneous Executions), which the US SEC declared immediately effective. This change affects how MEMX handles trade errors, with implications for market participants and risk management. Additionally, the SEC granted accelerated approval of a proposed rule change by NYSE Texas, Inc., as modified by Amendment No. 1, to offer complimentary products and services.

Routine Regulatory Notices

The US SEC submitted four information collections for OMB review and comment: Form N-54A, Rule 163, Rule 433, and Rule 17f-1. The SEC also published Federal Register notices concerning The Carlyle Group Inc. and CP VIII Coinvestment B, L.P., as well as Valued Advisers Trust and Long Short Advisors, LLC.

Our read

The day's primary operational requirement is the immediate update of screening lists to reflect the new OFAC SDN designations, as these carry direct legal prohibitions on US-jurisdiction transactions. While the specific names are not detailed in the source material, the blocking of vessels indicates a continued focus on maritime assets linked to blocked persons. The SEC's conditional relief on customer margin treatment may offer some flexibility for broker-dealers in reserve calculations, though the specific conditions of the Section 36 order require review. Swiss institutions should note the SECO update as part of their routine sanctions compliance cycle. No other significant regulatory shifts occurred today.

This digest was produced automatically by a large-language-model system from the regulator publications and official sources listed below; it is AI-generated content and may contain inaccuracies. It is not legal advice — verify wording and deadlines against the original documents.

Sources