The SEC named Stephanie Avakian as its new Deputy Director of Enforcement. See: Press Release.

The CFTC's proposal to reopen the comment periods for the Position Limits for Derivatives Proposal and for the Aggregation Proposal was published in the Federal Register. The CFTC reopened the comment periods for an additional three weeks to request that market participants comment on: hedges of a physical commodity by a commercial enterprise, including gross hedging, cross-commodity hedging, anticipatory hedging and the process for obtaining a non-enumerated exemption; the setting of spot-month limits in physical-delivery and cash-settled contracts and a conditional spot-month limit exemption

SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. issued a statement regarding the decision by the Department of Labor ("DOL") to delay its August 2014 fiduciary rule until at least January 2015. In his statement, Mr. Bentsen said that, from day one, the fiduciary rule has been a "troubled proposal" that would harm the ability of American investors and small business owners. Mr. Bentsen asserted that the DOL's actions "undermine the SEC's work to improve upon the standard of conduct owed by broker-dealers and investment advisers to retail clients." See: SIFMA Statement.

The Asset Management Group of SIFMA ("SIFMA AMG") submitted comments to the CFTC regarding its request for review of CFTC Rules Parts 43, 45, 46 and 49 (the "Swap Reporting Rules"), which collectively set forth requirements for swap data recordkeeping and reporting, as well as swap data repository ("SDR") operations and data. SIFMA AMG highlighted its concerns with the Swap Reporting Rules as implemented to date, stating first that, as a basic principle, asset managers should, but do not, have access to swap trade information reported to an SDR by a dealer for clients on whose behalf a manager

On May 27, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order ending protections established previously under Executive Order 13303 (dated May 22, 2003), which prohibited legal process against certain Iraqi entities and assets. In particular, the new Executive Order lifts the prohibition on any "attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process with respect to the Development Fund for Iraq and Iraqi petroleum, petroleum products, and interests therein . . . and other property . . . [of] the Central Bank of Iraq." At the time of their imposition in 2003, these