The SEC yesterday announced that Erica Williams will become the agency’s Deputy Chief of Staff. View press release in full here.

The CFTC today approved a final rule on swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements for counterparties to pre-enactment swaps, those swaps executed prior to passage of the Dodd-Frank Act, and transition swaps, those entered into between the law's enactment date and the applicable compliance date for swap data recordkeeping and reporting. The goal of the final rule for these swaps, collectively called historical swaps, is to specify what records must be kept and what data must be reported. The rule is also designed to ensure that historical swap data is available to regulators through

View CFTC webcast here. To view additional materials from this meeting, go to the related May 10th regulatory update.

FINRA Reg. Notice 12-24 This Notice reminds firms that FINRA Rule 5131(d)(4) prohibits firms from accepting a market order for the purchase of shares in a new issue in the secondary market prior to the commencement of trading of such shares in the secondary market. Cross References: FINRA Rule 5130; FINRA Rule 5131; Regulatory Notice 10-60; Regulatory Notice 11-29. For more information about this document, you may contact one of the following Cadwalader attorneys: Steven D. Lofchie; Nihal S. Patel.

See: 77 FR 28819 The CFTC issued a proposed exemptive Order that extends the effective date for certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring the regulation of swaps until December 31, 2012, or until the Commission's rules and regulations go into effect, whichever is sooner, thus providing further transitional relief until the CFTC and SEC finalize key definitions including that for "swaps.' The Order modifies temporary exemptive relief previously granted in 2011 that twice extended the effective date of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act by providing another six-month extension of the