The SEC granted to three exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") standard exemptive relief from Exchange Act Rule 10b-17(b)(1)(v)(a) and (b) ("untimely announcements of record dates"), as well as Rules 101 ("activities by distribution participants") and 102 ("activities by issuers and selling security holders during a distribution") of Regulation M. The ETFs are managed to track an index containing (i) preferred securities or (ii) a combination of preferred securities, hybrid securities and/or fixed income securities.

SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce urged the agency to keep its rules current. In remarks at the Exchequer Club, Ms. Peirce called on the SEC to reexamine its rules on a regular basis to ensure that they continue to effectively advance the regulatory mandate from Congress. If a rule is not solving the problem that the SEC sets out to solve, then it is important to figure out another solution and eliminate the rule if the problem no longer exists, she said. In addition, Ms. Peirce stated that "outdated rules can impose significant costs on market participants." For this reason, she said, she

The National Futures Association ("NFA") proposed amendments to an Interpretive Notice on Information Systems Security Programs ("ISSPs"). The Notice requires NFA member firms - including futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors - to adopt a written ISSP to address the risk of unauthorized access to, and attacks on, member firm I.T. systems. The Notice also requires member firms to take certain steps in the event of an I.T. systems breach. NFA proposed the following amendments to ISSP program requirements: Require annual

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") highlighted its efforts to promote "fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory access to credit" throughout 2017. According to the Fair Lending Report, the CFPB: initiated enforcement actions against (i) a bank for discrimination in its credit card lending and (ii) a mortgage lender that neglected to report accurate data about the applications it received and loans it granted to customers; monitored lenders and services for compliance with the CFPB's anti-discrimination laws; "issued a no-action letter to a company that uses alternative, or non

The CFTC Market Risk Advisory Committee debated clearinghouse and vendor risk management issues and announced the appointment of members to the recently established Interest Rate Benchmark Reform Subcommittee.