FINRA released the April 2014 Supplement to the October 2002 Security Futures Risk Disclosure Statement. The Supplement replaces the first paragraph under Section 5.2 of the Disclosure Statement to accommodate proposed changes by OneChicago, LLC, to list a product with a physical delivery settlement cycle shorter than three business days. The implementation date of the Supplement is June 23, 2014. See: FINRA Regulatory Notice 14-24; April 2014 Supplement; Security Futures Risk Disclosure Statement.

The SEC announced the latest charges in a series of cases involving microcap companies, officers and promoters arising out of a joint law enforcement investigation to unearth penny stock schemes. The SEC charged five penny stock promoters with conducting various manipulation schemes involving undisclosed payments to induce purchases of a microcap stock to generate the false appearance of market interest. See: SEC Complaint - Altomare; SEC Complaint - Berkowitz; SEC Complaint - Brown; SEC Complaint - McKnight and Bauer; SEC Complaint - Urban AG and Ray and Clark. Related news: FINRA Brings AML

SIFMA provided comments and suggested changes to the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") regarding the 2014 temporary and related proposed regulations under Section 1298(f) of the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC"), which requires shareholders of passive foreign investment companies ("PFICs") to file with its annual tax return an information return on Form 8621 with respect to each PFIC in which it holds a direct or indirect shareholder interest. SIFMA requested that the temporary and proposed regulations be modified to provide that they do not apply to securities held by dealers in

SIFMA provided comments to the SEC on the MSRB immediately effective proposal of Rule A-11, on Assessments for Municipal Advisor Professionals, urging the SEC to suspend the rule change. According to the comment letter, SIFMA opposes the proposed fee increases in Rule A-11, and urged the SEC to suspend the rule change and institute proceedings to disapprove the proposal. SIFMA stated that the proposed changes are inconsistent with Dodd-Frank as there is not a "reasonable relationship" between the amounts assessed to municipal advisors and the level of rulemaking, system development and

The House Financial Services Committee held a continuation of a markup to vote on 11 bills that are intended to enhance capital formation for small and emerging growth companies and provide regulatory relief for community financial institutions. The Committee reported all of the bills favorably to the House Floor, with two bills receiving unanimous votes, two bills agreed to by voice vote, and the remaining bills approved along party lines. Click here for a summary of the markup meeting by Delta Strategy Group. See: House Financial Services Committee Webcast of the Meeting; House Financial