The Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") designated additional Russia- and Ukraine-related individuals and entities to its Specially Designated Nationals ("SDN") and Sectoral Sanctions Identifications ("SSI") Lists. The SDN List designations prohibit nearly all transactions with named parties. Thirteen individuals and entities are linked to "serious and sustained sanctions evasion" pursuant to Executive Order 13661, including previously-designated persons Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Kalashnikov Concern. The SDN designations also include two Russian

The National Futures Association issued a notice stating that a registered Commodity Trading Advisor ("CTA"), who does not direct any trading of commodity interest accounts, is no longer required to file a Form CTA-PR. The Notice relates to CFTC Letter No. 14-115, exempting certain CFTC-registered CTAs from filing CFTC Form CTA-PR pursuant to Regulation 4.27. The relief is self-executing and effective immediately. S ee: NFA Notice: Relief from CTA-PR Filing Requirement. R elated news: NFA Issues a Notice to Members Regarding Changes to CPO Form PQR and CTA Form PR (July 8, 2015).

IOSCO published a review of periodic and material event-based disclosure frameworks in relation to issuers that have made a public offering of securities and/or whose securities are listed and/or publicly traded. The review was limited to disclosure frameworks under IOSCO Principles 16 and 26 in the thirty-seven participating jurisdictions. With regard to disclosure under IOSCO Principle 16, the review found that the requirements varied according to the type of issuer and information. Concerning IOSCO Principle 26, the review determined that timely disclosure requirements on the value, risk

The United States Government Accountability Office ("GAO") issued a report finding control deficiencies by the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") and the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") concerning the preparation of the government's fiscal year 2014 consolidated financial statement. These deficiencies contributed to material weaknesses in internal controls over the federal government's ability to: (i) adequately account for and reconcile intra-governmental activity and balances between federal entities; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that consolidated financial statements were

FINRA published a notice to remind firms engaging in municipal securities transactions that their written supervisory procedures should identify the firms' methodologies for detecting, resolving and preventing the consequences of short firm positions and fails-to-receive in municipal securities. FINRA also emphasized the need for written procedures to identify controls for ensuring that communications with customers regarding municipal securities transactions, including communications about the tax status of interest payments, are not false or misleading. FINRA also noted its discovery that