The ICE is implementing a change to Block Trade provisions for certain Currency Pair futures contracts. Effective Date: June 11, 2013. See: Notice.

The SEC charged NASDAQ with securities laws violations resulting from the Facebook IPO. In settling these charges, NASDAQ agreed to pay a $10 million penalty and to certain undertakings, including enhancements to its technology change process and an expansion and formalization of the role of the NASDAQ's Regulatory Group in the technology change process. The order also resolves charges stemming from unrelated violations by NASDAQ of Regulation SHO and Regulation NMS. While the SEC's charges relating to the Facebook IPO were based upon NASDAQ's failure to comply with several of its own rules

In order to assist firms that may wish to request registration relief from the CFTC which allows them to delegate CPO functions, we link to a form of request letter that firms may tailor to their specific facts. As noted in the Cadwalader Cabinet newsletter May 24th, 2013, the CFTC recently issued several no-action letters granting CPO registration relief to the general partners of investment funds that delegated their CPO functions to the fund’s CFTC-registered investment manager. By way of background, in August 2012 the CFTC issued Frequently Asked Questions on Amendments to CPO Obligations

FINRA released its podcast for May 29, 2013, focusing on how FINRA's Communications with the Public rule applies to electronic communications. This was the first of a two-part series. The new rule reduces communication categories from six to three: institutional communications, retail communications and correspondence. The three categories are defined with written communication being the focus, as well as what is considered written communication for all three categories. The rule also details suitability, FINRA review, approval and record-keeping requirements, as well as the difference between

SEC Chief Economist and Director, Craig M. Lewis, delivered a speech at the Pennsylvania Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems Annual Spring Forum on the role of economic analysis in furthering the Commission's mission to protect investors and the ways in which the public can help craft regulations to effectively accomplish this goal. Lewis specifically discussed what the Commission considers the four basic elements of a robust economic analysis. These elements include: (1) an identification of the justification for the regulatory action; (2) a definition of the baseline against