The SEC's approval of MSRB-proposed new rules was published in the Federal Register. The new rules include Amendment No. 1 to Rule G-44, and related amendments to Rule G-8 ("Books and Records to Be Made by Brokers, Dealers and Municipal Securities Dealers") and Rule G-9 ("Preservation of Records"). Amendment No. 1 revises the supplementary material in Rule G-44 so that it will not limit the requirement as to how written supervisory procedures, in the absence of separate supervisory personnel, achieve compliance with applicable rules for single-person municipal advisors. The Amendment also

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") cautioned investors to be wary of opportunistic Internet-based investment schemes related to the outbreak of Ebola. According to NASAA President William Beatty, an analysis of Internet domain names by state and Canadian securities regulators found that, since April 2014, nearly 1,200 domain names with "Ebola" in their title have been registered with top-level domains, such as .com, .net, and .org. Of these sites, 184 were identified by NASAA's Internet Fraud Investigations project group as "suspicious." A review of some of

IOSCO released an update of its information repository for central clearing requirements for OTC derivatives, which provides regulators and market participants with consolidated information on the clearing requirements of different jurisdictions. The repository sets out central clearing requirements on a product-by-product level, as well as any exemptions from them. According to IOSCO, the intention of the repository is to assist authorities in their rulemaking and participants in complying with relevant regulations in the OTC derivatives market. See: IOSCO Press Release.

At the SIFMA Complex Products Forum, FINRA Executive Vice President Susan Axelrod delivered remarks in which she discussed why complex products might pose a risk to investors, how FINRA is working to spot trends sooner, and what steps firms can take to understand risks. Ms. Axelrod focused on interest rate-sensitive products, as well as structured products that embed fixed-income securities or features. She also mentioned new and emerging structured retail products that concern FINRA, including "steepeners" and "range accrual notes." Additionally, she stated, FINRA remains concerned about

FINRA released the fifth podcast in a five-part series about FINRA's new Consolidated Supervision Rules. This podcast focused on rules relating to new FINRA Rule 3110, as well as rules relating to supervisory control systems, holding customer mail, and tape-recording registered people. The podcast discussed FINRA Rule 3120, which requires firms to identify principal(s) that are responsible for setting up, maintaining, and enforcing supervisory controls. FINRA reminded firms that the control policies must: (i) test and verify that the firm's supervisory procedures are "reasonably designed" to