The SEC announced charges against nearly two dozen companies and individuals who regularly bought and sold securities on behalf of a trading firm without registering with the SEC as broker-dealers. An SEC investigation found that Global Fixed Income LLC, which was primarily in the business of purchasing investment grade corporate bonds, entered into agreements with third parties that acted as unregistered broker-dealers on its behalf, buying billions of dollars' worth of newly issued bonds and causing Global Fixed Income's allocation in the bond offerings to increase. The SEC explained that

The IRS updated its technical FAQs about the International Data Exchange Services ("IDES") system. First, the IRS confirmed that directly reporting non-financial foreign entities and their sponsoring entities must file nil reports if they have no substantial U.S. owners for the calendar year. Second, the IRS confirmed that, under the Instructions for the FATCA Report, participating foreign financial institutions ("FFIs") (other than Reporting Model 2 FFIs reporting on a non-consenting U.S. account) must file their FATCA Reports with respect to the 2014 calendar year by June 29, 2015. By

The IRS updated its technical FAQs about the International Data Exchange Services ("IDES") system. The updated FAQs address general questions, system availability and design, data format and structure, data transmission, and data encryption and security. In addition, the FAQs direct IDES participants to additional resources related to FATCA and, for those in need of technical and other systems-related support, to the IDES Enrollment Support Page. Se e: Updated FAQ.

SEC Chair White spoke at the Brooklyn Law School International Business Law Roundtable. Her remarks focused on the importance of international cooperation in the regulation of securities markets. Chair White emphasized that international coordination is "crucial for addressing systemic risk." She noted that, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, "over half the recipients and over half the total dollars" of the bailout money from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System went to foreign banking organizations. She stressed that regulators should take a "forward-leaning approach"

The Asset Management Group of SIFMA ("SIFMA AMG") and the Investment Adviser Association ("IAA") submitted a joint response to the request by the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") for comments regarding the role played by asset managers in financial markets. MFA also submitted comments in a separate letter. According to SIFMA AMG and IAA, asset managers and the funds they manage do not present a systemic risk. The SIFMA AMG and IAA letter focused on the following three themes: The SEC and FSOC have "distinct but complementary roles," and the SEC is already assessing issues raised