ISDA announced that its Board of Directors elected Eric Litvack as its new ISDA Chair. The appointment is effective on January 1, 2015. Mr. Litvack is a Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Strategy for SociÉtÉ GÉnÉrale's Global Banking and Investor Solutions business, and has served on the ISDA Board since 2006. Mr. Litvack was appointed Vice Chairman of the ISDA Board in 2012. See: ISDA Press Release.

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") issued an advisory to inform investors of the very limited responsibilities of third-party custodians of self-directed individual retirement accounts ("IRAs") and other qualified plans. In short, the advisory warns that such custodians serve as administrators and do not act to protect investors from investment mistakes. See: NASAA Advisory.

MFA submitted comments in response to the Financial Stability Board's ("FSB") consultative document titled " Cross-Border Recognition of Resolution Action" which was published on September 29, 2014. MFA voiced support for the adoption of statutory recognition frameworks in FSB member jurisdictions as the only appropriate solution to cross-border recognition resolution actions. Additionally, MFA urged the FSB to ensure: that the statutory recognition frameworks are crafted carefully and fairly to include all parties and provide no favorable treatment for different types of parties; and that it

FINRA released the first podcast in a three-part series on topics to consider when planning a Firm Element training, as identified in the CE Council's Fall 2014 Firm Element Advisory. The podcast reviews recently approved updates to FINRA rules, including: the "Communications with the Public" rule; amendments to FINRA's rule about transactions related to initial public offerings; a new FINRA rule prohibiting firms and their associated people from conditioning, or seeking to condition, a customer settlement on that customer consenting to expunge the dispute information from the Central

The CFTC reopened the public comment period for its proposed position limits rule. According to the CFTC, the reopening of the comment period is in anticipation of questions and comments that may arise from the CFTC's Agricultural Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for December 9, 2014. CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen released a statement to express her support of the comment period reopening. She urged the CFTC to not allow the rule to "linger indefinitely" on the CFTC docket, stating that she believes a final rule should be released by spring 2015. The comment period will be open for 45