The SEC announced that David P. Bergers, Acting Deputy Director of the SEC's Enforcement Division and Director of the Boston Regional Office, will be leaving the agency this spring after 13 years of federal service. Appointed as Acting Deputy Director of Enforcement in January, Mr. Bergers helped oversee all investigative and litigation activities within the Enforcement Division, including the Office of Market Intelligence, Office of the Whistleblower, and five specialized units: Asset Management, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Market Abuse, Municipal Securities and Public Pension Funds, and

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") issued a time-limited no-action letter that provides swap dealers and major swap participants with relief from compliance with External Business Conduct Standards (the "Standards") in connection with certain foreign exchange forwards and swaps that (i) are entered into with an eligible contract participant, (ii) have a settlement cycle of no more than seven local business days and (iii) are entered into prior to September 1, 2013. The letter provides that the reason for the delay in compliance to the External Business Conduct

SIFMA released the following statement from Acting President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. regarding President Barack Obama's nomination of Michael Froman to be the next United States Trade Representative. In a global economy, the U.S. must remain a leader in advocating for open trade and investment and its importance to economic growth and job creation. We support the recently announced Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ("TTIP"), as well as ongoing negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership and an International Services Agreement. We believe these agreements offer steps

The CFTC issued an Order of Registration to the Natural Gas Exchange Inc. ("NGX"), a foreign board of trade located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Under the Order, NGX is permitted to provide its identified members or other participants located in the U.S. with direct access to its electronic order entry and trade matching system. The Order is the first issued by the Commission pursuant to Part 48 of the Commission's regulations ("Registration of Foreign Boards of Trade"), which provide that such an Order may be issued to a foreign board of trade that possesses, among other things, the

SIFMA, as part of the Bank Loan Disclosure Task Force, released the attached white paper regarding voluntary secondary market disclosure by state and local government issuers and conduit borrowers about bank loans. The study notes that disclosure about bank loans is not currently required by Exchange Rule 15c2-12, and indicates that the unavailability of such information may be significant.In addition to the principal topic of the study, which is interesting in itself, the study also raises questions (footnote 3) as to whether certain bank loans may be "securities," and, if they are securities