SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke at the Fifth Annual Judge Thomas A. Flannery Lecture about the importance of trials, their unique place in the American justice system, and about the role they play at the SEC. Chair White explained that trials play a vital role in the administration of justice. She stated that trials are a true measure of America's democracy because trials foster the development of law and more importantly to Chair White, they create public accountability for defendants and the government through the public airing of charges and evidence. Chair White discussed ways in which

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued what is in effect an amended no-action letter as to the regulatory obligations of SDs and MSPs regarding "Intended-To-Be-Cleared Swaps." Essentially, this letter restates prior Letter 13-33, except that it amends the prior letter to take account of the CFTC staff's "guidance" that where a trade is expected to be cleared, but is not, the trade is deemed void ab initio and neither party is permitted to charge a breakage fee. The relief in this letter, as in the prior letter, goes to certain requirements under the external

FINRA issued a regulatory notice regarding the SEC-approved amendments to the Discovery Guide used in customer arbitration proceedings. The amended guide provides assistance for arbitrators on resolving electronic discovery disputes ("e-disputes") relating to the form for producing electronic documents. The guide explains how product cases are different from other customer cases and describes the types of documents that parties typically request in product cases. Additionally, it clarifies the circumstances under which a party may request an affirmation when an opposing party does not produce

The CFTC finalized rules to establish international standards for systemically important derivatives clearing organizations (SIDCOs). According to the CFTC, the new rules, in conjunction with existing derivative clearing rules, establish regulations that are consistent with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMIs). This will allow U.S. SIDCOs to continue to be Qualifying Central Counterparties for purposes of international bank capital standards. The new rules include provisions concerning procedural requirements for opting in to the regulatory regime as well as substantive

The CFTC's proposed rules for aggregating accounts, for the purposes of calculating compliance with the position limits, appeared in the Federal Register. The proposed rules modify CFTC Rule 150.4 ("Aggregation of Positions") and certain related regulations to specify which accounts and positions a person must aggregate for purposes of position limit compliance. The proposals, and our comments on them, are set out in the earlier news items linked below. Comments must be received by the CFTC on or before January 14, 2014. See: 78 FR 68946. Related News: Streetwise Professor Craig Pirrong on