FINRA released an investor education podcast advising investors on what they need to know about financial planners. In an investor education podcast, FINRA identified three things to consider in seeking out a financial planner: (i) who they are (their backgrounds); (ii) who regulates them; and (iii) what services they offer, including their areas of focus.

FINRA censured and fined a financial services firm (the "Firm") for failing to provide "complete and accurate trade data" in automated form when requested by the SEC and FINRA. Such trade data, commonly known as "blue sheets," provide information about securities transactions, including the security, trade date, price, share quantity, customer name, and whether the transaction was a buy, sale, or short sale. FINRA found that from January 2012 to September 2015, the Firm submitted to the SEC and FINRA inaccurate trade data as a result of problems with the Firm's automated systems. According to

The recently-enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 included amendments to the exemption from swaps mandatory clearing for hedging affiliates in the CEA and SEA. In particular, Section 705 modifies the exemption from mandatory clearing provided to so-called "treasury affiliates" in CEA Section 2(h)(7)(D) ("Mandatory Clearing Requirements for Swaps - Treatment of Affiliates"). The amendments modify the application of the exemption by: removing the requirement that the affiliate be acting as "agent" in the transaction; requiring that the commercial risk must have been actually transferred

The SEC found that a financial services firm failed to uncover its employee's illegal activities in a prearranged trading scheme. According to the SEC's investigation, a firm employee arranged the sale of mortgage-backed securities to another trader at predetermined prices and then bought back the positions at a small markup and placed them in other accounts. The employee also sold bonds at above-market prices to avoid incurring losses in certain accounts and then repurchased them at unfavorable prices in another fund without disclosing the favorable treatment toward the selling clients to the

IOSCO released two reports on the business continuity plans of trading venues and intermediaries. The first report, Mechanisms for Trading Venues to Effectively Manage Electronic Trading Risks and Plans for Business Continuity, focuses on trading venues and how they can better manage the risks associated with electronic trading. The second report, Market Intermediary Business Continuity and Recovery Planning, sets forth standards that regulators should consider applying as part of their oversight of market intermediaries.