The CFTC announced the filing of a civil complaint in federal district court charging Intrade The Prediction Market Limited ("Intrade") and Trade Exchange Network Limited ("TEN"), both of which are based in Dublin, Ireland, with offering commodity option contracts to U.S. customers for trading, as well as soliciting, accepting, and confirming the execution of orders from U.S. customers in violation of the CFTC's ban on off-exchange options trading. The complaint also alleges that TEN violated an order issued by the CFTC in 2005 that found that TEN had previously engaged in similar conduct and

The SEC announced that after nearly four years in office, SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro will step down on December 14, 2012. Schapiro became Chairman in the wake of the financial crisis in January 2009 -- appointed by President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Schapiro's replacement will be current SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter. Commissioner Walter was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008. She had previously served as Senior Executive Vice President, Regulatory Policy and Programs, at FINRA/NASD, and served as General Counsel at the CFTC

Since October 1, the SEC has been operating under a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2013. As such, FINRA has announced that the Exchange Act Section 31 rate applicable to specified securities transactions on the exchanges and in the OTC market will remain at $22.40 per million dollars until the SEC's regular fiscal budget is approved and firms are advised of the final date for implementing any rate change. Click here to view notice in full (links externally to FINRA website).

The Federal Reserve Board released the economic and financial market scenarios for the next round of stress tests for large financial institutions. Comments Due: February 15, 2013. View release here: 77 FR 70124.

In accordance with Dodd-Frank, the SEC is proposing capital and margin requirements for security-based swap dealers ("SBSDs") and major security-based swap participants ("MSBSPs"), segregation requirements for SBSDs, and notification requirements with respect to segregation for SBSDs and MSBSPs. The SEC also is proposing to increase the minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers permitted to use the alternative internal model-based method for computing net capital. The SEC's proposed rules are intended to accomplish the following: Set minimum capital requirements for security-based