The SEC issued a report cautioning exchanges and investment professionals to monitor the composition of indices used in offering financial instruments in order to determine whether products based on the indices are futures or security futures. The report of investigation stemmed from an inquiry into a foreign derivatives exchange that was offering and selling futures to U.S. customers on what was originally a broad-based index not subject to registration requirements of federal securities laws, but later transitioned to a narrow-based security index. The SEC report reminds exchanges and

Master Screens Inc. and Daniel Price Bart, a direct purchaser of aluminum, have filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Co. over claims that the banks restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices. See: Master Screens Inc. v. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., 13-cv-00431, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (Tallahassee).

The MSRB has issued a policy regarding interpretive guidance of MSRB rules for municipal securities brokers, dealers, municipal securities dealers, and municipal advisers. Among other things, the policy explains the difference between informal guidance and formal written responses, as well as describes situations in which the MSRB cannot provide interpretive guidance. Among the situations in which the MSRB reserves the right not to provide interpretative guidance is where a law firm does not identify the client for which it is acting. See: MSRB Notice 2013-17 Regarding Policy; MSRB Policy on

FINRA has filed additional amendments to the proposed rule change for FINRA Rule 9217, which sets forth the rules eligible for disposition pursuant to FINRA's Minor Rule Violation Plan ("MRVP"). See: Text of Proposed Rule Change. See also: FINRA Files Proposed Change to Rule 9217 (July 24, 2013).

The DTCC has issued a white paper identifying a number of developing trends that would impact the industry's ability to protect itself against unidentified threats to the worldwide financial system. Cyber Security: This issue has emerged as arguably the top systemic threat facing global financial markets and associated infrastructures, including the threat of Distributed Denial of Service attacks, attacks against systems containing transaction records, and risk of disclosure of restricted, confidential or Material Non-Public Information via compromise of internal systems. Impact of New