SEC Investor Advocate Rick A. Fleming delivered remarks at the Annual Southwest Securities Conference regarding the recent Office of the Investor Advocate Report to Congress, which contains upcoming priorities and a recommendation to authorize the SEC to collect annual user fees from registered investment advisers.

The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin to educate investors about the SEC rules and regulations related to trading suspensions. According to the Investor Bulletin, federal securities laws generally allow the SEC to suspend trading in any stock for up to 10 business days when the SEC holds that suspension is required to "protect investors and the public interest." Circumstances that may lead the SEC to suspend trading include (i) a lack of current, accurate or adequate information about the company, (ii) questions about the accuracy of publicly available

Former CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton joined the Modern Markets Initiative (MMI), a high frequency trading advocacy organization. During his tenure at the CFTC, Mr. Chilton was an outspoken critic of high frequency trading. After being hired, former Commissioner Chilton was quoted in a Modern Markets Initiative press release as saying this: "The role and benefits of high frequency trading are misunderstood by many. Through education, transparency and the right type of constructive regulation, HFT's role will be accepted and endorsed as essential to today's modern markets. The U.S. markets are

The FINRA proposal to amend FINRA Rule 9231 and Rule 9232 regarding the composition of Hearing Panels and Extended Hearing Panels was published in the Federal Register. FINRA proposed adding an additional category of persons eligible to be on a Hearing Panel to conduct disciplinary proceedings. The new category would allow the Chief Hearing Officer to select a panelist who "currently serves or previously served on a committee appointed or approved by the FINRA Board, but does not serve currently on the National Adjudicatory Council or as a Director or a Governor." Additionally, the proposed

The SEC and the FDIC announced that they have settled charges with Bank of America regarding cases involving faulty mortgages. S ee: SEC Press Release; SEC Order; FDIC Press Release.