SIFMA Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, David Cohen, published an opinion piece on SIFMA's Pennsylvania + Wall blog titled, "Muni Markets: Let the Sun Shine In," where he discussed how to improve the municipal markets. According to Mr. Cohen, for investors who primarily deal in equity markets, the municipal bond market seems "opaque." He explained that regulation may be able to enhance the way municipal market functions, although there would remain material differences between the municipal securities market and the listed equities market. As to the municipal market, Mr. Cohen

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") proposed a framework to establish risk-based capital surcharges for the largest, most interconnected U.S.-based bank holding companies. Specifically, the proposed framework would require a U.S. bank holding company with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets to calculate a measure of its systemic importance to determine whether it is a global systemically important banking organization ("GSIB"). A firm identified as a GSIB would be subject to a risk-based capital surcharge, calibrated based on its systemic risk profile

FINRA issued two Retrospective Rule Review Reports assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of its rules on (i) communications with the public and (ii) gifts, gratuities, and non-cash compensation. FINRA's Retrospective Rule Review consists of an assessment phase and an action phase. The reports issued today are the culmination of the assessment phase. In the upcoming action phase, FINRA will engage in its usual rulemaking process to propose any amendments to the rules based on the assessments. In the Communications with the Public Report, FINRA staff concluded that the rules have "largely

The CFTC held a meeting of the Agricultural Advisory Committee, where CFTC staff and various witnesses discussed aspects of the positions limits rule proposal, as well as the agricultural economy and how that economy impacts CFTC-regulated markets. Specifically, the discussion regarding position limits focused on how to best calculate deliverable supply for commodities, as well as the definition of bona fide hedging. See: CFTC Agricultural Advisory Committee Meeting Webcast, Agenda, and Discussion Questions. See also: Chair Massad's Opening Statement; Commissioner Giancarlo's Statement

The SEC sanctioned a computer programmer for operating two online venues that traded securities using the virtual currencies Bitcoin and Litecoin without registering the venues as broker-dealers or stock exchanges, and for conducting unregistered offerings. According to the Order, the programmer and his company, BTC Trading Corp., operated two online enterprises – BTC Virtual Stock Exchange and LTC-Global Virtual Stock Exchange – from August 2012 to October 2013. These exchanges provided account holders with the ability to use Bitcoin or Litecoin to buy, sell and trade securities of businesses