In a call with the SEC Investor Advisory Committee, SEC Chair Jay Clayton and SEC Commissioner Elad L. Roisman contended that the current proxy voting system needs fixing. Mr. Roisman described the current system of "proxy plumbing," i.e., the process of proxy solicitation and voting, as "inefficient, opaque, and unreliable in its accuracy." Mr. Clayton stated that he is interested in hearing suggestions for both a "major overhaul" of the proxy voting system and short-term fixes that could be implemented in the interim. They requested suggestions be submitted to the comment file from the

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") notified servicemembers of new protections and a veterans alert. The CFPB outlined that: lenders now will be held to more "stringent requirements," including requiring lenders to provide borrowers with net tangible benefits if refinancing, in order for loans to be guaranteed or insured by the Veteran Affairs ("VA") (effective as of May 2018); there is continued foreclosure protection for servicemembers for one year following active duty (this permanent protection became effective in May 2018); veterans will have greater credit reporting

The U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") sanctioned a Turkish individual as a "Foreign Sanctions Evader" for allegedly instructing the Turkish subsidiary of a U.S. company to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran. The U.S. company settled potential civil liability for the Turkish subsidiary's conduct. This marks the first case in which OFAC designated a Foreign Sanctions Evader in relation to a civil enforcement action. Pursuant to Executive Order 13608, OFAC sanctioned Evren Kayakiran for causing six violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. Mr

The MSRB adopted clarifying amendments to the Implementation Guidance on MSRB Rule G-18 ("Best Execution"). The MSRB stated that the amendments are intended to provide clarification regarding the "number-of-markets-checked factor". The MSRB noted that the amendments are not intended to modify Rule G-18 or alter any of its requirements. The amendments also clarify that a dealer is not required to "put a bid-wanted out with multiple fixed income alternative trading systems ("ATSs") or broker's brokers . . . or become a subscriber to every ATS to meet its best execution obligations." In addition

ISDA published the " 2019 German Bank CDS Protocol" (the "Protocol"), which enables market participants to amend existing transactions on German bank reference entities to apply the "European senior non-preferred financial corporate transaction type." According to ISDA, the Protocol is intended to "reflect changes being made to credit default swaps . . . on German bank reference entities." As previously covered, the ISDA Credit Steering Committee recommended changes to documentation practices for credit default swap transactions that reference German banks. The Protocol is relevant to all