SEC Chair Mary Jo White met with European Union Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill to discuss various issues regarding cross-border cooperation. According to the SEC's press release, the two regulators discussed Commissioner Hill's proposal for an EU Capital Markets Union as well as international cooperation in regulating global financial markets. The press release reported that the regulators also discussed market structure, asset management, accounting standards and small business capital formation. See: SEC Press Release.

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures ("CPMI") and IOSCO published three reports on the European Union, Japan and the United States' progress in implementing the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures ("PFMI"). T he reports focus on the implementation of the PFMI for central counterparties ("CCPs") and trade repositories ("TRs") in the three jurisdictions. Each assessment reflects the status of the jurisdiction's legal, regulatory and oversight frameworks as of April 18, 2014. Overall, the reports showed that the three jurisdictions have made "good progress" in

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures ("CPMI") and IOSCO published a document, titled " Public Quantitative Disclosure Standards for Central Counterparties" (the "Document"), that sets forth quantitative data disclosure standards for central counterparties ("CCPs"). The Document is meant to complement the disclosure framework, published by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems and IOSCO in December 2012, that was intended to improve the overall transparency of financial market infrastructures and that covers qualitative data in need of updating relatively infrequently

In Pilgrim's Pride Corp. v. Commissioner, No. 14-60295 (5th Cir. 2015), the Fifth Circuit held that section 1234A(1) of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") does not apply when a taxpayer abandons a capital asset. In Pilgrim's Pride, a predecessor to the taxpayer had been unable to negotiate the redemption of securities with the issuer and decided to abandon the securities without consideration. By doing so, the taxpayer generated a $98.6 million ordinary tax loss and more than $20 million in tax savings. The IRS asserted, and the tax court agreed, that section 1234A(1) of the Code applied

SEC Co-Chief of the Asset Management Unit ("AMU") Julie Riewe delivered the keynote address at the IA Compliance Conference. Her address concerned the AMU's priorities in 2015, particularly in the area of conflicts of interest. Ms. Riewe explained that the AMU divides the asset management industry into three primary categories, each of which presents unique risks and therefore requires different enforcement priorities for 2015. Registered investment companies. The AMU's priorities for this group include (i) valuation and performance and the advertising of that performance, (ii) funds that