SEC Chair White was the sole witness at the House Financial Services Committee hearing titled "Examining the SEC's Agenda, Operations, and FY 2016 Budget Request." Her remarks addressed completed SEC initiatives, current SEC priorities and future SEC regulatory actions. Chair White outlined the SEC's regulatory accomplishments and highlighted the work of each of the SEC's divisions and offices, and noted the ways in which the SEC has made progress in implementing the Dodd-Frank and JOBS Acts. Notably, Chair White stated that the SEC's review of equity market structure continued to progress

FINRA issued a regulatory notice regarding the SEC's approval of consolidated FINRA Rules 2040 and 0190, which relate to payments to unregistered persons, as well as amendments to Rule 8311. FINRA Rule 2040 governs the payment of transaction-based compensation by member firms to unregistered persons, and FINRA Rule 0190 establishes a new general standard that specifies when a member firm will be treated as a nonmember of FINRA. The amendments to FINRA Rule 8311 clarify the scope of the rule on payments by member firms to persons subject to suspension, revocation, cancellation, bar or other

An SEC administrative law judge ("ALJ") found that (i) the chief compliance officer ("CCO") of the broker-dealer Penson Financial Services, Inc. ("Penson") "caused" Penson's violations of short-sale regulations and (ii) the CEO and president of Penson was not liable for failing to supervise its CCO. The two findings stemmed from alleged violations of Rules 204 and 204T of Regulation SHO by Penson. Penson allegedly failed repeatedly to close out Continuous Net Settlement ("CNS") and allegedly failed to deliver in accordance with the timing requirements of the rule. (Penson has since gone

FINRA issued a regulatory notice (the "Notice") soliciting comments on a proposal (the "Proposal") to require those associated persons who are primarily responsible for the design, development or significant modification of algorithmic trading strategies, or for supervising or directing such activities ("Algo Traders"), to register as "Securities Traders." The proposal is one of seven FINRA initiatives relating to equity market structure and automated trading activities. For the purposes of the Proposal, an algorithmic trading strategy would include "any program that generates and routes (or

The NFA issued an updated Regulatory Guide for Forex Transactions. The updates include the incorporation of: Amendments to Bylaw 301, NFA Financial Requirements Sections 1, 13 and 14; NFA Compliance Rule 2-38 and Rule 2-48; Interpretive Notice: NFA Compliance Rule 2-10: " The Allocation of Bunched Retail Forex Orders for Multiple Accounts"; and Interpretive Notice: NFA Compliance Rule 2-4 and Rule 2-36: " Prohibition on the Use of Certain Electronic Funding Mechanisms." See: NFA Regulatory Guide to Forex Transactions. Related news: NFA Announces Effective Date of Interpretive Notice to