FINRA announced that it has fined Rodman Renshaw LLC $315,000 for supervisory and other violations related to the interaction between the firm's research and investment banking functions. The firm's supervisory system was found to be deficient, resulting in a breakdown of the barriers required to be imposed between research and investment banking, including research analysts be rewarded for soliciting investment banking transactions.

The MSRB has announced that they will cohost (with Bond Dealers of America) a municipal securities regulation seminar for municipal market participants. When: Thursday, October 11, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Where: Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 160 East Pearson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611 A panel will address current MSRB initiatives. These include: underwriters' duty to issuers; retail order periods; regulations of brokers' brokers; and the development of risk-based examinations. MSRB Rule G-23 and the role-switching prohibition will also be discussed. View press release here (links

The MSRB announced the publication of a report summarizing the type and number of continuing disclosure documents for municipal bonds submitted by issuers to the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access website (EMMA). View report here (links externally to MSRB website). See also the SEC's recent study on the municipal bond market.

In response to a petition from certain Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs), the CFTC approved a proposed order that would exempt certain specified transactions of the RTOs and ISOs from the provisions of the CEA and CFTC regulations. The proposed order would exempt contracts, agreements and transactions for the purchase or sale of limited electricity-related products. To be eligible for the exemption, the transactions would have to be entered into by "appropriate persons," as defined in Section 4(c)(3)(A) through (J) of the CEA, or "eligible

The SEC will hold an Open Meeting regarding whether to propose rules to eliminate the prohibition against general solicitation and general advertising in securities offerings conducted pursuant to Rule 506 in Regulation D under the Securities Act and Rule 144A under the Securities Act, as mandated by Section 201(a) of the JOBS Act. Cross-Reference(s): JOBS Act Section 201(a); Securities Act Rules 506 and 144A. (Also: do a search on the JOBS Act from the items on the left to see a number of related news items.) View news release in full here (links externally to SEC website).