On April 16, 2015, the Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") issued an updated list of Frequently Asked Questions ("FAQs") about recent amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations ("CACR"). The FAQs make clear that the Cuba embargo remains in place. They also address the range of activities now permitted under the amended regulations. For example, individuals may travel to Cuba under general licenses in 12 categories, including family visits; governmental business; journalistic, religious and educational activities; humanitarian projects; transmission of information materials; and

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") released a memorandum that provides additional information on the operating structure of the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee ("LISCC") supervisory program. The memorandum supplements previously released information regarding the LISCC and provides additional details on the program's organizational structure, including the functions of its subcommittees. The LISCC program was established in 2010 to oversee and supervise the largest and most systemically important financial institutions. According to the FRB, the

The CFTC announced it filed a civil enforcement action in a Chicago federal court against two individuals and their two corporations for engaging in fictitious single stock futures transactions in OneChicago LLC and trading non-competitively. The CFTC Complaint alleges that over seven consecutive trading days in 2014, the defendants and their companies, Tech Power, Inc. and MetroWest Law Corporation, engaged in 624 round-turn trades between an account carried in the name of MetroWest, and an account carried in the name of Tech Power involving 1,248 perfectly matched pre-arranged, non

The SEC announced that its Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on May 13, 2015. The meeting will focus on Rule 611 of Regulation NMS, also known as the "Order Protection Rule" or "Trade-through Rule." The SEC established the Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee in February to provide a formal mechanism through which the SEC can receive advice and recommendations on equity market structure issues. Members of the public who wish to provide their views on the matters to be considered by the Committee may submit comments electronically or on paper. See: SEC

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Vice Chair Thomas Hoenig delivered remarks recommending criteria for regulatory relief for community banks. He argued that such regulatory relief should not be a reason to abandon the Volcker Rule. Mr. Hoenig explained that while he is not a critic of systemically important banks engaging in non-bank activities, he is concerned with the "distortions to the financial system that follow when these activities are conducted by commercial banks." According to Mr. Hoenig, the Global Capital Index, which was constructed by him and another colleague at the FDIC