The NFA has issued a $300,000 fine against Interactive Brokers ("Interactive"), a futures commission merchant, for, among other problems, violations of NFA Bylaw 1101. NFA Bylaw 1101 generally prohibits CFTC registrants from doing business with firms that should be, but are not, registered with the CFTC. In effect, it requires private firms to police each other's compliance with CFTC registration requirements. Mehta Comment: Relevance of this matter is an NFA Member's compliance with NFA Bylaw 1101 (i.e., prohibition on NFA Member from doing business with a non-NFA Member that is required to

The NFA released July 2013 revisions to the Financial Requirements Section 16 and the related interpretive notice regarding cleared swaps customer collateral accounts. These updates are available in five appendices of policies that include: Compliance with theExchange Act Rule 15c3-1: the calculation of haircut charges on securities; additionally, charges on the more common securities are reviewed: government securities and Canadian debt obligations, municipal securities, other municipal securities, money market funds, commercial paper, bankers' acceptances and certificates of deposit, non

Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) announced the House Financial Services Committee hearing schedule for the first half of July. July 9 at 10 a.m.: The CFPB and safeguarding consumer data. July 9 at 2 p.m.: The OIS and the unconstitutionality of Dodd-Frank's "Too Big to Fail" sections. July 10 at 10 a.m.: Capital Markets and GSE Subcommittee second hearing on government red tape hindering a healthier economy. July 17 at 10 a.m.: Chairman Bernanke will present the Federal Reserve Board of Governor's semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to Congress. See: House Financial

Dodd-Frank mandated that the GAO examine the impact of the permanent exemption on the quality of financial reporting by small public companies and on investors. According to the GAO, a majority of empirical studies suggests that compliance with the auditor attestation requirement has a positive impact on investor confidence in the quality of financial reports. Accordingly, the GAO recommends that the SEC consider requiring public companies to explicitly disclose whether the relevant company has obtained an auditor attestation of its internal controls. The SEC responded that investors could

The GAO examined the costs of the rule requiring investment advisers that have custody of client assets to submit to annual surprise examinations by public accountants. In addition, the study found that the SEC rule requiring a qualified custodian who is a related person to obtain an internal control report also produced varied costs across custodians based on their size and services. Finally, the GAO examined the exception which the SEC offers from surprise examinations for investment advisers deemed to be "operationally independent" from their clients, and the associated costs with that