SIFMA submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of appellant Jefferson County in Andrew Bennett v. Jefferson County, Case No. 15-11690. The case is pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. On November 6, 2013, the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama confirmed Jefferson County's chapter 9 plan of adjustment. A group of ratepayers appealed the confirmation order to the district court, but failed to seek a stay pending appeal. Consequently, Jefferson County consummated its plan of adjustment substantially, including through the issuance of

The national securities exchanges and associations (together, the "SROs") filed a proposal with the SEC to amend the plan that governs the selection of a plan processor for the Consolidated Audit Trail (the "CAT Plan Processor"). The proposal would require an SRO that (1) submitted a bid; (2) was an affiliate of an entity that submitted a bid; or (3) was included (or was an affiliate of an included entity as a material subcontractor) that submitted a bid (a "Bidding Participant"), to be recused from voting to select the CAT Plan Processor. According to the SROs, the proposal (if approved)

The SEC obtained an emergency court order to freeze the assets of a trader in China who profited after trading in a U.S. brokerage account prior to a public announcement that Qihoo 360 Technology Co., Ltd. ("Qihoo") received a buyout offer. According to the SEC, the trader purchased out-of-the-money call options in advance of the buyout announcement. After Qihoo's stock price rose sharply, the trader sold all of his options, after which he instructed his brokerage firm to transfer more than half of his proceeds into a foreign bank account. The trader, who is the CEO of a Chinese online gaming

SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher discussed shareholder activism and the role of the SEC in corporate governance, in a speech delivered at the Stanford Law School's Annual Directors' College. He also discussed different types of activism and their effects on long-term shareholder wealth creation. Commissioner Gallagher's remarks were both extensive and extensively footnoted. The big-picture questions that he raised were (i) whether the regulatory process encouraged private actions that helped to create long-term economic wealth and (ii) whether those who bore fiduciary responsibilities to

The SEC approved an amendment to the national market system's plan to create, implement and maintain a consolidated audit trail (the "NMS CAT Plan"). The amendment will allow the national securities exchanges and national securities associations (together, the "SROs") to accept revised bids, and to narrow the list of shortlisted bids for the role of CAT plan processor prior to the SEC's approval of the CAT NMS Plan. Before the amendment was green-lighted, a shortlisted bidder was eligible only to revise its bid and the SROs were permitted only to narrow the set of shortlisted bidders once the