The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") issued a semiannual update of its rulemaking agenda. Included in the CFPB agenda are a number of rulemakings mandated by Dodd-Frank, such as potential amendments to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, as well as support for the implementation process of recent rulemaking to consolidate and streamline federal mortgage disclosures required under the Truth in Lending Act and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Additionally, the CFPB stated that it is continuing with rulemakings to implement a supervisory program for certain nonbank entities by

The CFTC announced that it will hold a roundtable on June 19, 2014, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to discuss position limits for physical commodity derivatives. The roundtable will focus on the hedges of a physical commodity, as well as spot-month limits in physical-delivery and cash-settled contracts. The roundtable will include a discussion on the aggregation of positions based on ownership interests of greater than 50 percent of an owned entity and aggregation based on substantially identical trading strategies. See: Press Release. Related news : CFTC Announces Three Actions to Clean up

FINRA published its Quarterly Disciplinary Review Podcast, which reviews specific FINRA rule violations by registered representatives. The review highlights the following disciplinary actions: a violation of ethical standards as per the books and records rules, in which a registered sales assistant falsely guaranteed the authenticity of a customer's signature on multiple wire transfer requests; a violation of ethical standards in discretionary accounts rules, in which a registered representative exercised discretion in two customer accounts without authorization or approval; a violation of

On May 23, 2014, the Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa imposed the first jail sentence under Canada's Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA). Defendant Nazir Karigar, who was convicted in August 2013, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for conspiring to bribe foreign public officials. While working as an agent for Cryptometrics Canada, Karigar attempted to bribe an Indian Cabinet Minister and officials of Air India (a state-owned airline) to win a contract to supply facial recognition software. Karigar was the first individual prosecuted under the CFPOA, which applies to

The SEC instituted proceedings to determine whether to approve a FINRA-proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 12104 and Rule 13104 to permit arbitrators to make referrals to FINRA during an arbitration case, and adopt new rules to address the assessment of hearing session fees, costs, and expenses if an arbitrator made a referral during a case that resulted in withdrawal of the entire panel. FINRA filed Amendment No. 1 in response to comments on the proposal on May 19, 2014. The SEC is requesting further comment on the amended proposal to help determine whether to approve or disapprove the