The U.S. House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies held a hearing regarding the CFTC FY 2016 budget. CFTC Chair Massad was the sole witness. In his testimony, Chair Massad advocated for a $72 million dollar increase in the CFTC budget. He explained that this $322 million budget request would allow the CFTC to focus on "critical activities," including: enhancing surveillance and enforcement capabilities; performing timely and thorough examinations of critical market infrastructure, such as that of exchanges

The North American Tax Committee of ISDA requested that the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") and the IRS postpone the effective date of the soon-to-be-released final regulations under Section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code until January 1, 2017. The regulations require that up to 30 percent withholding tax be collected on payments to non-U.S. persons of dividend equivalents under certain equity swaps. The subject equity swaps are referred to as specified "Notional Principal Contracts" ("NPCs"), and other "equity linked instruments" ("ELIs") that reference U.S. dividend paying stocks

FINRA named Erozan Kurtas, Head of Advanced Data Analytics and Senior Vice President. Mr. Kurtas will start at FINRA on February 23, 2015. In his newly created role, Mr. Kurtas will assume responsibility overall for enhancing FINRA's data analytics capabilities. He will work closely with departments across FINRA, particularly Member Regulation – Sales Practice; and Member Regulation – Risk Oversight and Operational Regulation ("ROOR"). FINRA stated that Mr. Kurtas and his team will focus on "improving how FINRA analyzes and uses the data it currently gathers from firms." See: Press Release.

The SEC announced that Heather Seidel was named Chief Counsel for the SEC Division of Trading and Markets. See: Press Release.

The NFA will hold an audio conference on March 4, 2015. The conference will update information on OTC derivatives regulatory programs for swap dealers and major swap participants. At the audio conference, NFA senior staff will discuss: the NFA's current examination program; the NFA's continuous monitoring program; the status of Section 4s policies and procedures documentation; the self-reporting of issues; and recent notices. Click here to register for the NFA conference.