Good morning. An international antibribery watchdog says the U.S. could improve on its anticorruption efforts by extending protection to more whistleblowers and by offering additional transparency in the resolution of foreign-bribery cases.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, in a report published Tuesday, lauded the U.S. for raising the level of enforcement of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since its last evaluation by the group in 2010. It also pointed out areas for improvement, Risk & Compliance Journal’s Mengqi Sun reports.

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The OECD recommended that the U.S. strengthen and extend antiretaliation protection to all private-sector tipsters that may raise FCPA-related allegations, including those who report alleged corruption by companies that don’t issue securities or those who only report tips to the Justice Department.

The OECD also recommended U.S. enforcement agencies provide more transparency into the resolutions of some FCPA cases, such as making it easier for the public to obtain details about the extension or completion of nonprosecution agreements and deferred prosecution agreements with companies in FCPA cases.

A bankruptcy judge approved an $8.34 billion settlement between Purdue Pharma LP and the Justice Department that requires the drugmaker to plead guilty to three felonies over its marketing and distribution of OxyContin and is structured to support state and local government programs addressing the opioid crisis.

Approval of the agreement Tuesday by Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., marks a milestone in Purdue’s chapter 11 case and advances the drugmaker’s goal to turn itself into a corporate trust run for the benefit of the public. Judge Drain also cleared members of the Sackler family who own Purdue to make a related $225 million payment to the Justice Department to resolve civil charges.

Mr. Clayton called for a “cooling-off period” for so-called 10b5-1 plans, which allow company executives to sell stock at a predetermined time—even if they are in possession of important nonpublic information—without exposing themselves to insider-trading charges. Mr. Clayton also urged companies to use “additional hygiene” around stock buybacks to avoid the potential for insider trading.

• The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday is expected to approve Boeing’s 737 MAX jets for passenger flights again after dual crashes took 346 lives, helping to resolve the plane maker’s biggest pre-pandemic crisis.
   
• German prosecutors allege that Wirecard AG executives overpaid for a string of companies, causing massive losses to shareholders of the now disgraced financial-technology company. Playing a key role in some of the deals was a behind-the-scenes payments consultant who was paid as an adviser on at least 10 separate Wirecard acquisitions, according to former senior company officials.
   
• The U.S. Department of Justice said it would drop charges against Mexico’s former defense minister, arrested last month for allegedly taking bribes from drug gangs, and return him to Mexico to face possible prosecution. In a surprise move, the U.S. said it would provide Mexico with all the evidence in the case against former defense minister Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos.
   
• About 300 companies that received as much as half a billion dollars in pandemic-related government loans have filed for bankruptcy, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of government data and court filings.

Chinese companies with shares traded in America would be required to use auditors overseen by U.S. regulators or face being kicked off exchanges under a plan being drafted by regulators, according to people familiar with the matter.

The proposal, which is likely to be issued for public comment in December, would address the disparate treatment that applies to Chinese companies going public in the U.S. The firms have long been able to sell shares in the U.S., yet their auditors violate a key investor protection: China hasn’t allowed their work to be inspected.

The SEC’s proposal would put the onus on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market to require compliance with the audit inspections—or bar a new Chinese company from listing. Those with shares already traded would have a few years to comply before possibly losing their listing.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) said the next head of the Securities and Exchange Commission should take more steps to require companies to disclose risks related to climate change.

In a testy exchange during a Senate hearing Tuesday, Ms. Warren criticized outgoing SEC Chairman Jay Clayton for not mandating that all companies disclose aspects of their business that could be affected by climate change or the push by governments to stymie it. Clayton countered that the SEC requires such disclosures if companies deem them material, and that investors want “decision-useful information.”

Ms. Warren’s remarks nevertheless established climate-related disclosure as a top priority for the SEC among progressive Democrats. “We need a new SEC chair who will put this climate crisis at the top of the agency's agenda,” the senator said.

—Paul Kiernan

Some companies likely will have to significantly change how they secure data to continue working with European companies, under draft guidelines issued by the European Union that require increased privacy safeguards for information transferred outside the bloc.

Businesses could be forced to adopt strict encryption practices and ensure the personal data of Europeans can’t be decrypted if companies move that information to the U.S. and other countries outside the EU, the draft rules said. The guidelines likely will boost the use of emerging methods of data encryption, privacy experts say.

• President Trump fired the top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, Chris Krebs, who oversaw efforts to safeguard the presidential election from foreign interference and in recent weeks disputed unsubstantiated claims of fraud advanced by Mr. Trump.

• The chief executives of Facebook and Twitter told lawmakers they did better in fending off election interference in 2020, while acknowledging mistakes and signaling an openness to more regulation. The tough tone of questions from both parties at a congressional hearing Tuesday suggested that social-media giants face higher risks of new regulation in the next Congress that begins in January.
   
• Dominion Voting Systems has come under criticism from President Trump, who has promoted unproven allegations about the company and calling its equipment “not good or secure.” But federal and state officials disagree. And Dominion is now battling to assure Americans that the election was secure and without major problems.

• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the increased spread of the coronavirus posed an important risk to the economy in the months ahead and said it was too soon to say how a potential vaccine would change the outlook.
   
• The head of the Business Roundtable, a trade group of the nation’s largest companies, called on the incoming Biden administration to start rolling back tariffs as part of a new round of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China.

The strong early results for two leading Covid-19 vaccines have implications that go far beyond the current pandemic: They suggest the time has come for a gene-based technology that could provide new treatments for cancer, heart disease and other infectious diseases.

The unproven technology, named messenger RNA after the molecular couriers that deliver genetic instructions, has long eluded researchers. An mRNA vaccine has never been cleared by regulators. It is now the basis for Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. Both have shown in recent days to be more than 90% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19—performance in line with some older vaccines even though the new shots were developed in a fraction of the time.

• Developing Nations Push for Covid-19 Vaccines Without the Patents
• More Than a Third of New Jersey Residents Reluctant to Get Safe Covid-19 Vaccine

Send comments to the Risk & Compliance editor, Jack Hagel, at jack.hagel@wsj.com.

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