The SEC issued a report which makes clear that companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure ("Regulation FD") so long as investors have been alerted about which social media site will be used to disseminate such information. The report was issued in response to an announcement by an officer of NetFlix on Facebook announcing that Nexflix had streamed a significant amount of content in June. This raised concerns that readers of Hasting's Facebook page were obtaining inside information. (Regulation FD

SIFMA AMG submitted the attached comments to the Basel Commission on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") and the International Organization of Securities Commissions ("IOSCO") with regard to their Second Consultative Document for the Margin Requirements for Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives. SIFMA AMG offers broad support for the BCBS/IOSCO recommendations and proposed timeline. SIFMA AMG also reiterated the points made in prior comments to BCBS/IOSCO on this subject, including the following: (i) the categorization of entities for purposes of defining initial margin thresholds, (ii) bilateral

In advance of the adoption of SEC Rules implementing the JOBS ACT to allow advertising of private placement offerings, the North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") issued an advisory cautioning investors about the risks these offerings may carry. According to the advisory, because private placement offerings made in reliance on Rule 506 are not reviewed by regulators, they have become a "haven for fraud." According to NASAA's most recent enforcement statistics, private placement offerings are the most frequent source of enforcement cases conducted by state securities

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") and the International Organization of Securities Commissions ("IOSCO") published the public responses to the second consultative paper on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives, which was issued for comment on February 15th for a one-month consultation period. These responses to the consultative document will inform the final joint proposal on margin requirements on non-centrally cleared derivatives. See below for public comments received on the Consultation Report as of April 2, 2013. Alternative Investment Management

The CFTC announced the revocation of the registrations of Gordon A. Driver of Las Vegas, Nevada, and his company, Axcess Fund Management, LLC ("Axcess"). Axcess was registered with the CFTC as a CPO, and Driver was registered as an Associated Person of Axcess and listed as its sole principal. This revocation was a statutory disqualification case heard by a CFTC Judgment Officer rather than an Administrative Law Judge, a development that the Federal Administrative Law Judges Conference implicitly objected to in a letter to CFTC Chairman Gensler in February. Click here to view announcement in