The MSRB announced that it is hosting a free educational webinar to explain the upcoming rule changes to consolidated fair-dealing obligations for dealers on June 26, 2014 from 3 to 4 p.m. ET. The webinar will explain revisions to MSRB Rule G-19 ("Suitability of Recommendations and Transactions; Discretionary Accounts"), key provisions of MSRB Rule G-47 on time of trade disclosure obligations, and MSRB Rules G-48 as well as D-15 on sophisticated municipal market professionals. The rules will become effective on July 5, 2014. C lick here to register for the webinar. Related news: MSRB

The CFTC held a Global Markets Advisory Committee ("GMAC") meeting to discuss issues related to CFTC coordination with foreign regulators on the oversight of foreign-based swap clearinghouses and foreign swap execution facilities. In his opening statement, Commissioner O'Malia explained that it is critically important for international regulators to harmonize on swap data reporting, exchange trading and central counterparty clearing "before market fragmentation and contraction of liquidity hardens and becomes permanent." He stated that the United States and European Union should be working

At Compliance Week 2014, SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement (the "Division") Andrew Ceresney delivered a keynote address in which he discussed recent SEC enforcement initiatives. According to Mr. Ceresney, "it is a great time to be in the Enforcement Division." He stated that, while the SEC generally has been successful in addressing misconduct over the past five years, areas of significant concern for the future are related to five specialized units created recently: (i) the Asset Management Unit, (ii) the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, (iii) the FCPA Unit, (iv) the

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing examining the process by which the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") designates nonbank financial institutions as systemically important financial institutions ("SIFIs"). Specifically, the hearing focused on the voting structure of FSOC and the criteria it uses to make certain designations, as well as the future implications of subjecting bank holding companies with assets of $50 billion or more to stringent standards. The hearing also discussed the FSOC Transparency and Accountability Act (H.R. 4387), which would amend, among

At the Financial Accounting Foundation Trustees Dinner, SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke about the important collaboration between the SEC and Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"). Chair White explained that the unified accounting standards that the FASB creates, and the SEC enforces, provide a clear picture for investors of a company's financial condition. Chair White noted that, while setting unified accounting standards is an important step, there is still work to be done. She explained that implementing standards can be a more difficult task than setting standards. She applauded the