The CFTC voted unanimously to amend regulations to provide additional clarity to swap counterparties and registered entities regarding their reporting obligations for cleared swap transactions. The proposed amendments would also "improve the efficiency of data collection and maintenance associated with the reporting of the swaps." The proposed amendments would modify Part 45 of the CFTC's regulations, which implements the requirements of Section 21 of the Commodity Exchange Act. The CFTC stated that the proposed rules would: Clarify which entity has the obligation to choose the swap data

The SEC named Shamoil T. Shipchandler Regional Director of its Fort Worth Regional Office. Mr. Shipchandler will begin his new role in early October. See: SEC Press Release. Related news: SEC Names Associate Director in Division of Corporate Finance (July 17, 2015); SEC Names Associate Director for the Office of Market Supervision (June 25, 2015); SEC Names Richard Best Regional Director of Salt Lake Office (June 8, 2015).

The SEC final rule requiring a public company to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its CEO to the median compensation of its employees, was published in the Federal Register. Pursuant to Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act, the final rule requires any such company to disclose (i) the median of the annual total compensation of all its employees except the CEO, (ii) the annual total compensation of its CEO and (iii) the ratio of those two amounts. Although the final rule allows the company to choose a methodology based on its own facts and circumstances to identify the "median employee

A bank agreed to settle charges that it "violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by providing valuable student internships to family members of foreign government officials affiliated with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund." The SEC investigation found that the officials' family members "did not meet the bank's rigorous recruitment criteria, yet were hired with the knowledge and approval of the bank's senior employees in order to corruptly influence foreign officials and win or retain contracts to manage and service the assets of the sovereign wealth fund." The SEC order stated

The Investment Company Institute ("ICI") provided the SEC with market feedback on the listing and trading of exchange-traded products ("ETPs") on national securities exchanges. The ICI provided comments on the following areas in which it had "available data and particular insights": (i) the arbitrage and market pricing of exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"); (ii) the activities of authorized participants ("APs"); (iii) the need for enhancements to the SEC process for approving exchanges' listing standards; and (iv) ETF closures and liquidations. The ICI stated that "arbitrage in bond ETF shares is