Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry delivered remarks at the 10th Annual Community Bankers Symposium, discussing efforts to enhance cybersecurity among community banks. See: Comptroller Curry's Remarks; OCC Press Release.

FINRA filed a proposed rule change with the SEC to modify the Gross Income Assessment ("GIA") pricing structure in Section 1(c) of Schedule A to the FINRA By-Laws. FINRA proposed to apply a modified pricing structure to firms that do not exceed the $25 million tier. According to FINRA, this will result in some firms paying less fees to FINRA and few or perhaps no firms paying more. S ee: Text of Proposed Rule Change; FINRA Rule Filing.

FINRA released the results of its survey of U.S. investors, which was designed to measure perceptions of fairness and to gauge demand for additional regulatory protections. The survey of 1,000 market participants revealed that 92 percent of respondents agreed it is "important to have a regulatory 'cop on the beat' to protect investors and police the markets." Furthermore, the survey found that 74 percent of participants would support additional regulatory protections to safeguard them from misconduct from brokers and financial firms. Lofchie Comment: It would be interesting to know the purpose

The CFTC Divisions of Clearing and Risk ("DCR") and Market Oversight ("DMO") extended until December 31, 2015 previously-issued no-action relief in Letters 14-25 and 14-26. Letter 14-135 extends the time-limited exemption contained in the alternative compliance frameworks available to certain affiliated counterparties, pursuant to CFTC Rule 50.52(b)(4)(ii)-(iii) ("Exemption for Swaps Between Affiliates"). On April 11, 2013, the CFTC published a final rule providing an exemption from required clearing for swaps between certain affiliated entities, subject to specific requirements and conditions

At the Annual International Banking Conference, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") Governor Jerome Powell discussed the global initiative to expand central clearing of over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives and how to ensure the successful operation of central clearing counterparties ("CCPs"). According to Governor Powell, roughly 20 percent of all credit derivatives and 45 percent of all interest rate derivatives are now centrally cleared. To accommodate the move toward central clearing, achieve risk reduction and avoid CCP failure, Governor Powell said, a number of issues