The U.S. House Committee on Rules published an amended version of H.R. 4413 ("Customer Protection and End User Relief Act"). The amended Act incorporates the provisions approved by the House Agriculture Committee. The amended version of the bill will be debated by the House next week.For a brief summary of the legislation, see our prior news story. See: H.R. 4413; House Agriculture Committee Report on Futures Customer Protection Act. Related news: House Agriculture Committee Approves Bipartisan Legislation to Reauthorize CFTC (with Lofchie Comment) (April 9, 2014); House Agriculture Committee

New Zealand and South Africa each signed FATCA Intergovernmental Agreements ("IGAs") with the United States. Each IGA is based on the Model 1A (Reciprocal) form under which South African and New Zealand Foreign Financial Institutions are required to report information on accounts owned directly or indirectly by U.S. persons to their local tax authority for automatic transfer to the United States. New Zealand and the United States also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in connection with the signing of the IGA clarifying several items, including that certain New Zealand organizations

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") of Europe issued an interpretation, based on FIA's discussions with the UK Financial Conduct Authority, of the scope of EMIR Article 39 following the LCH.Clearnet Limited EMIR authorization, which came into effect on June 12, 2014. The interpretation explains the scope of: the application of EMIR Article 39 with respect to the non-EU clients of clearing members; the application of EMIR Article 39 with respect to EU clients that are also U.S. persons; and the Article 39(7) disclosure document relating to U.S. clearing members of EU clearing

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor alert intended to help investors identify financial professionals who may have a history of misconduct. The alert describes potential red flags for investors when working with financial professionals, including: disciplinary actions by a government regulator, such as the SEC or a state securities regulator, or by a self-regulatory organization, such as FINRA; a history of customer complaints; lawsuits or arbitration brought by customers; and employment with one or more firms that have been expelled from the securities

"Do We Need an Anti-Regulatory Agency?" a recent article published in Energy Metro Desk, discusses the proposed "Searching for and Cutting Regulations That Are Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2014" (the SCRUB Act). The SCRUB Act would create a nine-member regulatory agency whose primary purpose is to identify regulations that are "unnecessarily burdensome." The article describes the impact the SCRUB Act would have on the post- Dodd-Frank CFTC. It quotes Cadwalader attorney Bob Zwirb, who observes that in implementing Dodd-Frank, the CFTC "has done too well in layering about a century's worth