In a speech given on the fifth anniversary of the Dodd Frank Act, SEC Commissioner Gallagher argued that Dodd-Frank "has backfired, strangling our economy, increasing the fragility of the financial system, and politicizing our independent financial regulators," and that it is the "only piece of major securities legislation in U.S. history that was rammed through Congress without bipartisan support." Although Commissioner Gallagher recognized that prudential regulation is "an important tool," he also expressed his concern that "in practice, 'prudential' regulation can and has evolved into an

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") filed a lawsuit in federal district court against an offshore payday lender for collecting payday loans over the Internet to U.S. consumers in all 50 states. The CFPB alleged that the defendants illegally collected loan amounts and fees that were void or that consumers had no obligation to pay, and falsely threatened consumers with lawsuits and imprisonment. The CFPB stated that it seeks to "end the companies' alleged illegal practices and obtain monetary relief for consumers." See: CFPB Press Release.

FINRA's proposed rule change to update cross-references was published in the Federal Register. The proposed update would reflect the adoption of new consolidated rules regarding payments to unregistered persons. The rule change is effective immediately and comments must be submitted by August 26, 2015. See: 80 FR 46630. Related news: FINRA Proposes Rule to Update Cross-References (July 23, 2015).

The CME Group and the China Foreign Exchange Trade Systems ("CFETS") announced that they signed a memorandum of understanding facilitating the establishment of a joint venture in the United States. The joint venture is intended to stimulate the development of markets pursuant to the Seventh Strategic Economic Dialogue between China and the United States.

FINRA released a podcast that summarized the latest FINRA notices, compliance resources and news from July 2015. Recent developments highlighted in the podcast included: A guidance reminder that firms engaging in muni transactions (1) must have written supervisory procedures for detecting, resolving and preventing the consequences of firm short positions and fails to receive and (2) must have controls to make sure communications with customers about muni transactions are not false or misleading. FINRA's comment letter that criticized the Labor Department's proposed Conflict-of-Interest Rule