The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") released a report indicating a wide disparity in how broker-dealers disclose fees, as well as questionable practices regarding broker-dealer fee charges and "markups." (The "markups" in question are not on securities transactions, but rather on fees for services, such as providing a stock certificate, where the fee charged by the broker-dealer is significantly in excess of the out-of-pocket cost of furnishing the service.) The report stated that, while broker-dealers may be complying with the technical requirements governing

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted a comment letter to the CFTC expressing its strong support for the CFTC's interim final rule issued in Swap Data Repositories - Access to SDR Data by Market Participants (the "Amended SDR Access Rule"). MFA commended the CFTC's revisions, which are intended to protect counterparty anonymity with respect to all swaps that are first traded anonymously on designated contract markets and swap execution facilities and then cleared in accordance with the Commission's straight-through-processing requirements. MFA noted that, in amending CFTC Rule 49.17

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted a comment letter to the CFTC on certain rule amendments self-certified by ICE Swap Trade, LLC concerning the treatment of swaps entered into as part of defined package transactions ("Package Transactions"). MFA's letter outlines suggestions for phasing in the trade execution requirement for different groups of Package Transactions. In a related letter, SIFMA submitted comments to the CFTC expressing support for permitting the execution of package transactions subject to the rules of a SEF, as proposed in the ICE SEF Filing. Furthermore, SIFMA

The Bank of New York Mellon, The Northern Trust Company and the State Street Bank and Trust Company ("banks") have asked IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to postpone the effective date of FATCA until January 1, 2015, in order to "enable a successful launch of FATCA." Koskinen announced on March 25 that FATCA would become effective on July 1, 2014, and that there would be no further delay of FATCA. In a joint letter to the IRS Commissioner, the banks asked him to reconsider that decision because, despite relentless efforts by the financial services industry, "it is simply not possible to

FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to revise the timeline for the implementation of amended TRACE protocols to disseminate additional Asset-Backed Securities Transactions (SR-FINRA-2013-046). The proposed rule change would provide additional time to complete the technological changes required for the dissemination of the additional securities. See: Text of Proposed Rule Change. Related news: FINRA Files Amendment No. 1 Regarding Trace Reporting Involving Asset-Backed Securities (February 25, 2014); SEC Announces the Designation of a Longer Period for Commission Action Regarding