The IRS released proposed regulations regarding master limited partnership ("MLP") qualifying income as to minerals and natural resources. A MLP is generally subject to a corporate-level tax unless at least 90 percent of its income constitutes "qualifying income." Under section 7704, qualifying income includes passive-type income (such as interest, dividends, and rent), but also includes income and gains derived from the exploration, development, mining, or production, processing, refining, transporting, or marketing of minerals or natural resources (each, a "qualifying activity"). Previously

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that the Wholesale Product Office ("WPO") would now be a stand-alone Group within the Bank. The WPO, currently a function within the Bank's Executive Office, manages the Fedwire Funds, Fedwire Securities and the National Settlement Service. The Bank also announced that Richard P. Dzina will be promoted to executive vice president and group head, effective July 1, 2015. See: NY Fed Press Release.

The SEC announced that David Grim was named Director of the Division of Investment Management. Mr. Grim was the Division's Acting Director since February, following the departure of former Director Norm Champ. See: SEC Press Release.

The SEC and FINRA announced that registration is open for the 2015 National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers. The program is targeted to compliance, audit, and risk officers of broker-dealer firms and branch offices. It is intended to provide an open forum for regulators and industry professionals to discuss compliance practices and exchange ideas on effective compliance structures. The program is scheduled to be held on July 14, 2015 and will focus on 2015 priorities for SEC and FINRA as well as current topics of interest including cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and firms

The Office of Financial Research ("OFR") released two working papers that present new approaches to evaluating the risks of a central clearing framework. The first paper Systemic Risk: The Dynamics under Central Clearing , focuses on concentration risks to a central clearing counterparty ("CCP") posed by large clearing members. The model shows that, as banks hedge undesired risks by trading through the CCP, systemic risk can build up over time. According to the paper, larger clearing members crowd out smaller clearing members. This creates a concentration that increases the exposure of a CCP