The MSRB is seeking comment on a proposal to consolidate guidance for municipal securities dealers who deal with experienced investors called sophisticated municipal market professionals ("SMMPs"). Essentially, the rule would define which investors are deemed to be SMMPs and clarify the extent to which reduced obligations are owed to SMMPs. Comments on the proposed SMMP rules should be submitted no later than June 12, 2013. View notice in full here (links externally to MSRB website).

The MSRB announced that Milroy A. Alexander, former MSRB Board member and chief executive officer of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, has joined the Board of Directors to serve as a public representative through September 30, 2013. The MSRB also announced that Benjamin S. Thompson, Managing Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Samson Capital Advisors, will continue his service as a public representative on the Board through September 30, 2014. The 21-member Board, which establishes regulatory policies and oversees the operations of the MSRB, has eleven members who represent the

The CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") issued a no-action letter that provides swap dealers ("SDs") with relief from the requirement that they provide a pre-trade mid-market mark ("PTM") as otherwise prescribed under CFTC Rule 23.431 ("Disclosures of Material Information"). The letter extends relief previously granted by the CFTC in letter 12-42 (December 6, 2012), as reported in our news story of that date. The relief is available with respect to physically settled FX swaps forwards with not more than a year, and vanilla options with a maturity of not more than

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton delivered a keynote address to the Energy Bar Association in Washington, D.C. on Targeted Transaction Fees ("TTF") concerning end users engaging in speculation. Commissioner Chilton discussed the "financialization" of commodity markets by traders called Massive Passives. This trading strategy, where there is so much Massive Passive liquidity on the buy side that values cannot be based on the fundamentals of supply and demand, is one example of how markets are morphing, according to Chilton. In addition, high-frequency traders, or cheetahs, impose quantifiable

SIFMA submitted the attached comments and a petition for disapproval to the SEC on the following proposed rules: (i) Proposed Rule Change Establishing the NYSE Trades Digital Media Data Feed and a Schedule of the NYSE Proprietary Market Data Fees (Release No. 34-69272), (ii) Proposed Rule Change to Establish Certain Fees for the NYSE Trades and NYSE Realtime Reference Prices Market Data Products ( Release No. 34-69298), (iii) Proposed Rule Change Establishing Certain Fees for the NYSE MKT Trades and NYSE MKT Realtime Reference Prices Market Data Products ( Release No. 34-69300), (iv) Proposed