The MSRB requested comment on a proposal to establish limitations on gifts given by municipal advisors in their professional capacity. The draft amendments to MSRB Rule G-20, which is the existing gifts rule for dealers, are designed to extend the provisions of the rule to municipal advisors. Currently, MSRB Rule G-20 establishes a $100 limit for gifts given by dealers to employees of entities engaged in municipal securities activities, subject to certain exceptions. The proposed amendments would hold municipal advisor gift-giving to this same limit. Additionally, as part of the MSRB's broad

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretation of CFTC Rules 1.22, 22.2 and 30.7. The interpretation provides that a futures commission merchant ("FCM") may credit a customer's trading account for a margin payment upon the FCM's initiation of a withdrawal from the customer's bank account using the Automated Clearing House ("ACH") payment processing system. The interpretation is consistent with a previous staff interpretation of how an FCM should account for checks deposited by customers for margin payments. The interpretation also provides that an FCM may

The CFTC's proposal to amend its Rules Part 14 ("Rules Relating to Suspension or Disbarment from Appearance and Practice") was published in the Federal Register. Under the proposed rule change, the CFTC may deny, temporarily or permanently, the privilege of certain persons to appear or practice before it. Additionally, the amendment clarifies the CFTC's standard for determining when an accountant has engaged in "unethical or improper professional conduct," which has been established as a basis for denying to such an accountant the privilege of appearing or practicing before the CFTC. Comments

The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to provide investors with a general overview of how the SEC Division of Enforcement conducts investigations. See: Investor Bulletin on SEC Investigations.

The SEC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") and the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") voted to adopt the final Credit Risk Retention Rule. The rule was adopted on October 21, 2014 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") and the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA"), and implements Section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires the securitizers of asset-backed securities to retain "not less than five percent" of the credit risk of assets collateralizing the securitization