The SEC has adopted an amendment to temporary Advisers Act Rule 206(3)-3T to extend the date on which the rule will sunset to December 31, 2014 (from December 31, 2012). Temporary rule 206(3)-3T establishes an alternative means for investment advisers who are registered with the SEC as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of Advisers Act Section 206(3) when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. Date: The amendment has been effective as of December 28, 2012. View rule release: 77 FR 76854.

On December 21, 2012, the CFTC published a final order pursuant to CEA Section 4(c) that granted market participants temporary conditional relief from certain provisions of the CEA, as amended by Dodd-Frank Title VII . With the issuance of the final order, the CFTC also issued #8220;further proposed guidance#8221; regarding the definition of #8220;U.S. Person#8221; and the aggregation rules for determining whether a person exceeds the swap dealer de minimis thresholds; the CFTC invited public comment on this further proposed guidance. The proposed guidance has been published separately in the

In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a District Court ruling that an insider's purchase and sale of shares of different classes of stock in the same company does not trigger liability under Section 16(b) of the Exchange Act (the "short-swing profit rule"). In Gibbons v. Malone, the Second Circuit Court held that federal securities laws do not require executives to disgorge trading profits earned from buying and selling shares of different types of stock in the same company within six months where those securities are separately traded and

FINRA has released its report, 2012: Year in Review, which lists the agency's major activities over the last year. The review is organized by the following major categories: Regulatory Highlights Cases Involving Complex Products Conflicts, Disclosure and Mispricing Cases Disciplinary Actions Ensuring Market Integrity Investor Protection and Transparency Initiatives Market-Integrity Initiatives Crowdfunding Click here to view news release in full (links externally to FINRA website).

The CFTC is extending the time period for which it is accepting public comment on a request from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( “CME ”) for approval of Rule 1001, which requires market participants clearing through the CME to send their trade data to the CME's captive SDR. On December 14, 2012, CME amended its filing to provide market participants with the option to designate an additional SDR. The new rule, as amended, would provide that: “For all swaps cleared by the Clearing House, and resulting positions, the Clearing House shall report creation and continuation data to CME's swap