The SEC charged a Chinese subsidiary of a U.S. company with making improper payments to health care professionals at government-owned hospitals. These health care workers were recommending the company's infant formula to patients who were new or expectant mothers. The company agreed to pay a $12 million penalty for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"). The SEC investigation found that employees funded the improper payments through "distributor allowance" funds paid to third-party distributors who marketed, sold and distributed the company's products in China. The SEC also

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") announced that it supported the imminent release of a CFTC rule on automated trading. The FIA's announcement largely concerned the importance and usefulness of automated trading systems, specifically in providing greater efficiency and ease of trading. FIA also acknowledged that automated trading will present new challenges, and encouraged regulators to (i) make sure that firms implement effective risk controls and (ii) continue to allow for innovation that drives efficiency and productivity in the markets. Lofchie Comment : FIA's statement may be

The SEC announced that Daniel M. Hawke, Chief of the Division of Enforcement's Market Abuse Unit and former Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office, is leaving the agency after 16 years of service. Mr. Hawke headed the Market Abuse Unit from its inception in January 2010. See: SEC Chief to Leave Commission.

The European Parliament's MiFID II/MiFIR negotiating team addressed a letter to the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") regarding the concerns of Members of the European Parliament ("MEPs") about the Regulatory Technical Standards ("RTS") that are under preparation. The Parliamentary Team considered the following five areas of the RTS to be problematic: (i) position limits for commodity derivatives, (ii) the ancillary activity test, (iii) non-equity transparency, (iv) Central Counterparty access and (v) tick sizes. MEPs urged ESMA to revise its language on those issues in order

SIFMA Managing Director Michael Decker recommended changes to a proposed rule that would treat certain U.S. municipal securities as High-Quality Liquid Assets ("HQLAs") under the Federal Reserve Liquidity Coverage Ratio rule ("LCR"). The recommendations were part of SIFMA's comments submitted to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. SIFMA recommended five key changes to the rule proposal: (i) treating municipal revenue bonds as eligible HQLAs; (ii) treating insured municipal securities as eligible HQLAs; (iii) either eliminating the 25-percent-of-each-CUSIP restriction or using