On April 28, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") dismissed all claims in three materially identical lawsuits brought by Harold Lanier on behalf of himself and others. Lanier asserted the claims against a number of exchanges, including BATS Exchange, Inc., the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Inc., NYSE MKT, LLC and the NASDAQ Stock Market (the "Exchanges"). Lanier's claims maintained that the Exchanges were liable for breach of contract under state law for violating their subscription agreements (the "Subscription Agreements") with certain customers

FINRA's proposal to delay the implementation date of the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine ("TRACE") rules was published in the Federal Register. The new proposal is effective immediately. In light of the comments received by FINRA from market participants, it proposes to move the TRACE implementation date to July 13, 2015. Previously, the SEC approved FINRA's proposal to amend the TRACE Rules 6700 series to (i) add a new contra-party type to be used in TRACE reports to identify a transaction with a nonmember affiliate, and (ii) require a firm to identify transactions with nonmember

CFTC Chair Timothy Massad discussed the CFTC's efforts to address commercial end users' concerns at the 18th Annual National Energy Restructuring Conference. CFTC Chair Massad reiterated the CFTC's intention to "fine-tune" its rules and touched on specific areas of concern that the CFTC will address. They include 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, long-dated swap contracts; modifying the residual interest deadline; ensuring that end users can utilize

The SEC announced the schedule for the Compliance Outreach Program regional seminars it will be sponsoring in six cities. The seminars will be sponsored jointly by the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Division of Investment Management, and Division of Enforcement's Asset Management Unit. They are intended to provide an opportunity for SEC staff to share information about the risks, priorities and deficiencies observed in examinations and investigations, and to discuss how senior executives and compliance professionals addressed such matters in the past. The 2015

Six federal financial regulatory agencies issued a joint final rule to implement the minimum requirements for the state registration and supervision of appraisal management companies ("AMCs"). Under the final rule, participating states must apply certain minimum requirements to the registration and supervision of AMCs.