The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") released the latest edition of its monthly policy newsletter. This month's stories focus heavily on the MFA's domestic and international outreach, including a number of comment letters to U.S. and European Union regulators. It includes: the MFA's comment letter to the European Commission on FX spot transactions; a joint comment letter to the Australian Treasury regarding draft IMR legislation; two separate comment letters sent by the MFA to the CFTC: (i) package trades and (ii) the amended SDR access rule; and a wrap-up of the MFA's Compliance 2014

On May 20, 2014, the U.S. State and Treasury Departments announced that an additional 12 Russian individuals were sanctioned pursuant to the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act ("Magnitsky Act"). The Magnitsky Act authorizes the State and Treasury Departments to designate not only individuals who were involved in the detention and death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, but also those responsible for gross human rights abuses against individuals seeking to (i) expose illegal activity carried out by Russian government officials; or (ii) obtain, exercise, defend or promote

The National Futures Association ("NFA") issued a Notice to Members regarding its recently adopted rule change, which requires a $1,000 fee when a firm or individual fails to disclose a disciplinary matter on a registration application, or to promptly update an existing registration record to disclose a new disciplinary matter. The rule becomes effective on June 1, 2014, and will apply to registration applications filed after that date as well as updates to report matters occurring after that date. According to the NFA, its staff spends a considerable amount of time and effort obtaining

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) delivered an opening statement at a committee hearing regarding the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC"), calling on FSOC to "cease and desist" designating nonbank institutions as systemically important financial institutions ("SIFIs") until Congress can further review the jurisdiction and effectiveness of FSOC and related organizations. See: Video of Chairman Hensarling's Remarks; Press Release. Related news: SIFMA Says Asset Managers Do Not Pose Systemic Risk (with Lofchie Comment) (May 7, 2014); SIFMA AMG Submits

The Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") held a public conference on asset management "in order to help inform the ongoing assessment by the FSOC of risks to U.S. financial stability." The conference involved discussions by industry participants and other stakeholders on topics related to investment risk management, potential risks across the broader financial system, and operational issues and resolvability. Each panel discussion was moderated by a senior official of an FSOC member agency. Recent media reports have indicated that FSOC is considering whether to designate two asset