FINRA announced that the National Adjudicatory Council ("NAC") revised its Sanction Guidelines regarding misrepresentations and suitability violations. The NAC amended the Sanction Guidelines to ensure that the overarching principles that apply to relevant determinations provide for tougher sanctions against those who commit fraud or make unsuitable recommendations to customers. The revised Sanction Guidelines now advise FINRA adjudicators to "strongly consider barring an individual respondent, or expelling a firm, for cases involving fraud." The guidelines recommend an increased range of one

CFTC Chair Timothy Massad discussed the CFTC's efforts to address end users' concerns at the 2015 Energy Risk Summit. Chair Massad reiterated the CFTC's intention to "fine-tune" its rules and touched on specific areas of concern for the CFTC to address, including the following: making it easier for local utility companies to access the energy swaps market; granting relief from the real-time reporting requirements for certain less liquid and long-dated swap contracts; modifying the residual interest deadline; revisiting procedures for special calls, especially when automatically triggered by

The SEC approved a FINRA amendment to the TRACE rules that implements a new contra-party type for use by firms in identifying transactions with nonmember affiliates. The amendment also requires firms to identify transactions with nonmember affiliates separately when they occur within the same day, at the same price and in the same security as a trade with another contra-party. The amendment will become effective on November 2, 2015. See: FINRA Reg. Notice 15-14. Related news: FINRA Delays Implementation Date of Approved Trade Reporting Amendments (Fed. Reg.) (April 30, 2015); SEC Grants

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry delivered remarks before the 2015 State Small Credit Initiative Conference. He spoke about how the Community Reinvestment Act can help to encourage small business lending. See: Comptroller Curry's Remarks.

The CFTC's requested public comment on the proposed collection of certain information involving regulations that govern the bankruptcies of commodity brokers. The request was published in the Federal Register. The CFTC requests comments on the recordkeeping and notice requirements in CFTC Rule Part 190 that pertain to bankruptcy rules for commodity broker liquidations. Comments must be submitted by July 13, 2015. See: 80 FR 27152.