The CFTC issued a notice indicating that individuals may submit whistleblower award claims for actions against Vertical Integration Group, American Bullion Exchange ABEX, Corp., et al., or Financial Robotics, Inc. The CFTC issues such notices when an enforcement action's final judgment or order – by itself or together with prior judgments or orders in the same action issued after July 21, 2010 – results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. Individuals who voluntarily provided the CFTC with original information that led to the successful enforcement of a covered action are eligible to

The SEC announced the members of a new Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee. The Committee will focus on the structure and operations of the U.S. equities markets. Stephen Luparello, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will be the designated federal officer on the committee. Other members' expertise, according to SEC Chair Mary Jo White, comes "from a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints"; i.e., from different sectors of the financial services industry, academia and public interest groups. Among the issues that the committee is expected to discuss are the following: (i)

The SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE") released its 2015 Examination Priorities for market participants and national securities exchanges. The list of priorities pinpoints issues involving investment advisers, broker-dealers and transfer agents. The OCIE stated that it plans to focus its efforts on examining the protection of retail investors, particularly investors saving for retirement. The OCIE added that it intends to examine initiatives to assess risks to retail investors, including (i) fee selection in relationships in which dual registrants offer a variety of

President Obama announced follow up steps to the administration's 2011 Cybersecurity Legislative Proposal, the International Strategy for Cyberspace and the Executive Order protecting critical infrastructure. The proposal: enables cybersecurity information sharing between the private sector and the government by encouraging the former to share cyber threat information with the Department of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, which will then share it with the relevant federal agencies and other organizations; encourages the formation of private

The IRS announced that the International Data Exchange Service ("IDES") is open for enrollment. IDES will be used by financial institutions and foreign governments that have entered into Intergovernmental Agreements ("IGAs") under FATCA to send information reports securely to the IRS on financial accounts held by U.S. persons. According to the IRS, IDES is a Web-based application that is used by the sender to encrypt the data and also encrypts the transmission pathway to protect data transfers. Where a jurisdiction has a reciprocal IGA, similar information will be provided to the foreign