FINRA announced that it will no longer provide historical research reports for OTC Bulletin Board securities, effective September 30, 2014. FINRA also announced that Rule 7740, pursuant to which FINRA has charged fees for OTC Reporting Facility ("ORF") trade reporting and data, will be deleted as of September 30, 2014. Additionally, FINRA announced further amendments to FINRA Rule 7710, also relating to ORF fees, upon migration of the ORF to FINRA's Multi-Product Platform on November 17, 2014. See: FINRA Regulatory Notice 14-36.

FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to incorporate NASD Rule 3010(e) regarding background investigations into new FINRA Rule 3110(e) ("Responsibility of Member to Investigate Applicants for Registration"). The proposed rule change is intended to streamline and clarify the rule language, and adds a provision to require members to adopt written procedures that are "reasonably designed" to verify the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in an applicant's Form U4. Additionally, the proposed rule change adds Supplementary Material .15 ("Temporary Program to Address

The CFTC approved a final rule on the exclusion of utility-operations-related swaps with utility special entities from the de minimis threshold for swaps with special entities ("Final Rule for Utility Swaps"). The CFTC unanimously approved the Final Rule for Utility Swaps, which is aimed at preserving the ability of natural gas and electricity utilities to enter into swaps transactions to hedge their risks. The CFTC explained that the rule responds to concerns raised by utilities that the number of counterparties willing to enter into swaps with them has been reduced because some of those

The CFTC notice to renew the collection of information regarding large trader reporting for physical commodity swaps was published in the Federal Register. Comments on the notice must be submitted by November 17, 2014. Se e: 79 FR 55759.

The SEC announced the latest sanctions in a continuing enforcement initiative against certain hedge fund advisers and private equity firms that participated illegally in an offering of a stock after short selling it during a restricted period. The SEC found that 19 firms and one individual trader engaged in the short selling of particular stocks shortly before they bought shares from an underwriter, broker or dealer participating in a follow-on public offering. The individual trader and each of the firms agreed to settle the SEC's charges and pay a combined total of more than $9 million in