FINRA requested feedback on a proposed pilot program "to study changes to corporate bond block trade dissemination based on recommendations of the SEC Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee (the "FIMSAC")." The FIMSAC recommendations include increasing block sizes from $5 million to $10 million for investment-grade ("IG") corporate bonds and from $1 million to $5 million for non-IG corporate bonds. The FIMSAC recommendations also add a 48-hour delay for dissemination of data regarding trades above the block-size caps. The proposed pilot program would consist of three test groups

The SEC Division of Corporation Finance designated a New Zealand stock exchange as a "designated offshore securities market" under Securities Act Regulation S, Rule 902(b).

At a Global Markets Advisory Committee ("GMAC") meeting, the CFTC considered presentations on the current status of the "four pillars" of the 2009 G20 directive on the OTC derivatives market. These include (i) trading on exchanges or electronic trading platforms, (ii) clearing through central counterparties, (iii) margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives and (iv) data reporting to trade repositories. CFTC Commissioner Dawn Stump reminded advisory committee members of the objectives of the GMAC including helping the CFTC to determine how it can avoid burdensome regulatory and

The Alternative Reference Rates Committee ("ARRC") designated Tom Wipf as its new chair. He is the Vice Chair of Institutional Securities at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Wipf is succeeding Sandra O'Connor following her retirement this month. Mr. Wipf has been Morgan Stanley's representative on the ARRC since 2014 and his appointment as ARRC Chair is immediately effective for a one-year term.

Three affiliated banks agreed to resolve OFAC's investigation into apparent violations of numerous economic sanctions programs, including those concerning weapons of mass destruction ("WMD") proliferation. According to the three Settlement Agreements (see here, here and here), OFAC stated that UniCredit Bank AG, UniCredit Bank Austria AG and UniCredit S.p.A. processed payments through U.S. financial institutions without disclosing the involvement of sanctioned persons, in apparent violation of U.S. sanctions programs aimed at WMD proliferators and global terrorism, as well as Burma, Cuba, Iran