In a letter to the European Securities and Markets Authorities, several buy-side associations, including the Managed Funds Association and the Alternative Investment Management Association, expressed concern about the increased fees that European exchanges and trading venues are charging for market data.

SEC Chair Jay Clayton described agency initiatives to increase small business access to capital. In remarks at the Annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation, Mr. Clayton stated that the SEC has a number of initiatives on its agenda for 2019 to help small businesses raise capital. The SEC will examine, among other things: (i) the "accelerated filer" definition and the thresholds that trigger Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, (ii) expanding testing-the-waters accommodations that allow companies to communicate with certain investors prior to or following the

President Donald J. Trump intends to nominate Heath P. Tarbert to be CFTC Chair for a five-year term starting on April 14, 2019. Mr. Tarbert is currently U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") Assistant Secretary for International Markets. Prior to joining the Treasury, Mr. Tarbert was a partner at Allen & Overy LLP in its global financial regulatory practice. Prior to that, he was Senior Fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, Legal Advisor to the Systemic Risk Council, Vice President of the research organization Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, and

The National Futures Association ("NFA") proposed adoption of an Interpretive Notice that requires commodity pool operators ("CPOs") to adopt internal control systems to deter fraud, protect customer funds and pool assets, and assure the accuracy of pool records. The Interpretive Notice will become effective 10 days after receipt of the submission by the CFTC, unless otherwise determined. The principal requirements of the Interpretive Notice are set forth below. Internal Controls : The Interpretive Notice requires that CPOs have a robust control environment, including by implementing written

The National Futures Association ("NFA") proposed amendments to NFA Compliance Rules and Interpretive Notices to cover transactions and counterparties involving swaps. The NFA stated that the amendments to the NFA Rules are designed to (i) incorporate references to swaps and counterparties, as well as other related concepts, (ii) clarify that certain rules apply to all commodity interests, defined as means futures, forex and/or swaps, and (iii) clarify that other rules only apply to certain membership categories. Specifically, the NFA proposed amending: NFA Compliance Rule 1-1 ("Definitions")