SEC Chief Accountant Kevin M. Stout delivered a presentation on auditing smaller broker-dealers. The presentation also provided a useful overview of certain of the SEC's recent amendments to its capital and custody rules. In his presentation, Mr. Stout discussed: Broker-Dealer Rulemaking: July 30, 2013 amendments to the SEC Broker-Dealer Financial Responsibility Rules; Broker-Dealer Annual Reporting Requirements prior to the July 30, 2013 amendments to Exchange Act Rule 17a-5 ("Reports to Be Made by Certain Brokers and Dealers"); post-July 30, 2013 amendments to the SEC Broker-Dealer Annual

The MSRB announced a new tool, on its Electronic Municipal Market Access ("EMMA") website, that is free and is intended to enable investors and other municipal market participants to easily find and compare the trade prices of municipal securities with similar characteristics and view historical trading activity. See: Press Release.

The CFTC rule proposal amending the de minimis threshold for an entity that enters into swaps with utility special entities was published in the Federal Register. The rule amendment would, among other things, permit a person to exclude utility operations related to swaps with utility special entities in calculating the aggregate gross notional amount of the person's swap positions solely for purposes of the de minimis exception applicable to swaps with special entities. Additionally, the rule would allow a person, in any rolling twelve-month period, to deal in utility-related swaps with

SIFMA and the Financial Services Institute ("FSI") provided joint legal analysis to the Virginia State Corporation Commission ("Virginia SCC") in support of the view that the point-of-sale disclosure requirements in Rule 21 VAC 5-20-280 A(32) of the Virginia Register of Regulations are preempted by, among other things, Section 103 of the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996 ("Broker-Dealer Exemptions from State Law"), which preempts state regulation of broker-dealer capital, margin, books and records, bonding and reports. See: SIFMA and FSI Comment Letter.

The Cayman Islands government enacted The Directors Registration and Licensing Law, 2014 (the "Law"), which seeks to regulate directors of certain entities established in the Cayman Islands. The Law is not yet in force, and is expected to come into force once the corresponding regulations and fee schedules are drafted. The subject entities, defined as "covered" entities, include regulated mutual funds and certain "Excluded Persons" under the Securities Investment Business Law. There are three classes of directors which will be regulated: (i) "registered directors," natural persons appointed as