The U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit held a hearing titled "Reauthorizing the CFTC: Commissioners' Perspectives." CFTC Commissioners Sharon Bowen, Christopher Giancarlo and Mark Wetjen testified at the hearing. The Commissioners expressed views on a number of issues facing the CFTC. To increase volume on swap execution facilities ("SEFs"), Commissioners Bowen and Wetjen called for the elimination of post-trade name give-up on order books. Commissioner Giancarlo suggested measures that include amendments to SEFs' core principles. Commissioner Wetjen

The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") issued a proposed rule relating to the definition of fiduciary under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code. The proposed rule, if adopted, would replace certain long-standing regulations relating to the definition of fiduciary with respect to the provision of investment advice and would expand the number of persons who would be fiduciaries in connection with providing investment advice or recommendations. According to the DOL, under the proposed changes, "retirement advisors will be required to put their clients' best interests before their own profits." In

NASAA and the SEC held their annual NASAA/Section 19(d) Conference. Section 19(d) of the Securities Act authorizes and directs the SEC to coordinate and cooperate with state securities regulators. Investor Advocate Rick Fleming and SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar discussed enhanced communication and collaboration between federal and state securities regulators. Mr. Fleming advocated for "smart regulation," noting that it "provides a sufficient level of protection to bolster confidence without needlessly burdening the regulated entities" and can "spur innovation." Creating smart regulation, Mr

SIFMA held its Annual Operations Conference and Exhibit, where SIFMA Vice President Randy Snook, SEC Commissioner Kara Stein, Office of Financial Research ("OFR") Director Richard Berner and other regulators discussed data standards, cybersecurity and various technology initiatives. In his opening remarks, Mr. Snook contextualized the discussions by describing the evolution of the role of the operations professional. He described many changes in the financial services industry, and that a shift to a T+2 settlement cycle and an industry-wide prioritization of cybersecurity are on the horizon

The NFA fined four commodity trading advisors ("CTAs"), one futures commission merchant ("FCM") and their respective associated persons separately for failing to maintain "objective and specific" audit trails of bunched customer order allocations. According to the NFA, the firms' audit trails were not specific enough to permit independent verification of the fairness of the allocations, nor were they sufficient to demonstrate that the firms used a defined methodology. Specifically, the complaints alleged that the firms failed to enact required procedures regarding allocations from bunched