The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ("OECD") published a new global standard for the automatic exchange of financial information to prevent tax avoidance. In developing the standard, the OECD worked with G20 countries and in cooperation with the European Union. The standard, which is closely modeled after the FATCA Model 1(A) Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") developed by the United States, consists of two components: (a) the Common Reporting and Due Diligence Standard ("CRS") and (b) a Model Competent Authority Agreement. The CRS contains reporting and due diligence

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board ("MSRB") filed with the SEC two rule amendments regarding the fair-pricing obligations for broker-dealers and municipal securities dealers (collectively, "dealers"). The MSRB proposed to consolidate MSRB Rule G-18 ("Execution of Transactions") and Rule G-30 ("Prices and Commissions") into a single fair-pricing rule. The MSRB also proposed to consolidate existing interpretive guidance under MSRB Rule G-17 ("Conduct of Municipal Securities and Municipal Advisory Activities") and G-30 to codify it into the same rule. See: Text of Proposed Rule Change

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") announced that its Board of Governors approved a rule proposal that would prohibit firms and associated persons ("APs") from conditioning settlements of customer disputes on, or otherwise compensating customers for, an agreement not to oppose a request to expunge information from an AP's Central Registration Depository ("CRD") record. According to the FINRA release, the proposal is intended to help ensure that the CRD system continues to contain information that is critical to investor protection. The rule proposal will be submitted to the

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight ("DMO") hosted a public roundtable regarding the trade execution requirement as applied to "package transactions." The roundtable topics included the definition of package transactions, the clearing and execution challenges posed by package transactions that distinguish them from standalone swaps subject to the trade execution requirement, and potential solutions for trading package transactions on or pursuant to the rules of a Designated Contract Market ("DCM") or Swap Execution Facility ("SEF"). The trading mandate for certain made-available-to trade (

CFTC Acting Chairman Mark Wetjen held the first meeting of the Global Markets Advisory Committee ("GMAC") under his leadership to discuss the CFTC staff advisory regarding application of the CFTC's cross-border guidance to non-US swap dealers that use personnel in the U.S. to arrange, negotiate or execute swaps with counterparties. The advisory, issued by the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO"), stated that non-U.S. swaps dealers must comply with "Transaction-Level Requirements" when using such personnel, regardless of whether the counterparty is a U.S. person. The