FINRA announced that it is filing with the SEC a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rule 7730(c) in order to establish a pilot program to provide a limited waiver of certain fees to access certain Real-Time Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine ("TRACE") transaction data. FINRA also proposed technical amendments to Rule 7730(c) and related statements in the fee chart. Click hereto view text of the proposed rule change (links externally to FINRA website).

The SEC announced the agenda and panelists for next week's Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. on November 15. The first morning panel will focus on JOBS Act implementation and the second will focus on small business capital formation issues not addressed by the JOBS Act. In the afternoon, breakout groups will develop recommendations on a variety of issues related to small business capital formation. Anyone wishing to participate in a breakout group session either in person or by phone must pre-register online by November 14

The National Futures Association ("NFA") announced that it is launching a new service with the goal of assisting futures customers in their due diligence review of FCMs. As of November 7, individuals can view certain financial information of any FCM via each FCM's Background Affiliation Status Information Center ("BASIC") system page on the NFA's website. The financial information included on FCM's BASIC page will include three reports: FCM Capital Report; FCM Customer Segregated Funds Report; and FCM Customer Secured Amount Funds Report. Lofchie Comment: This is obviously one of the follow

The SEC announced that it is preparing relief measures that would extend filing deadlines for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. The staff will issue a universal extension and also consider requests for further extensions on a case-by-case basis. View release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

On October 5, 2012, the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking for public comment concerning stress testing of the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"), and the twelve Federal Home Loan Banks ("Banks") as required by section 165(i)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Act. The comment period was to end on November 4, 2012 (the 30th day after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register). This document extends the comment period by an additional 30 days, through