As part of its retrospective rule review, the MSRB requested comments on the "CUSIP Requirement" ( i.e., MSRB Rule G-34(a)(i)(A)(3)). The CUSIP Requirement obligates municipal advisors advising issuers on the "competitive sale of a new issue of municipal securities to apply for the assignment of a CUSIP number or numbers with respect to such issues within a specified time frame." Comments must be submitted by May 28, 2019.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized the Federal Reserve Board ("FRB") approval process for bank mergers and acquisitions, and claimed that 100 percent of the merger applications received are approved. Ms. Warren said that "everything is happening behind closed doors," calling the bank merger process a "rubber stamp." She noted instances in which banks privately discuss deals with FRB staff members and then withdraw their applications if there is any opposition. The public, according to Ms. Warren, only gets to "weigh in" after the merger is announced by the FRB. In response, FRB Chair

The MSRB announced August 23, 2019 as the effective date for previously approved amendments to MSRB Rule G-21 and Rule G-40 (collectively, the "advertising rules"). ( See SEC Approves Three MSRB Advertising Rule Proposals.) In related actions, the MSRB filed for immediate effectiveness (i) guidance (issued in the form of FAQs) on the use of social media and (ii) additional amendments to the advertising rules, and a related technical amendment to MSRB Rule G-8, as to recordkeeping requirements. The additional amendments to the advertising rules concern the requirement of principal pre-approval

In a comment letter to the SEC, the Financial Information Forum ("FIF") offered an alternative approach to address the challenges of reporting "downstream order execution data" under Regulation NMS Rule 606 ("Disclosure of Order Routing Information"). According to the FIF, the amended NMS Rule 606 obligates Introducing Brokers ("IBs") to report information concerning execution data that is not in the hands of an IB. In order for them to report the required execution data to the end customer, IBs would have to obtain information from the executing brokers and trading centers. The FIF states

The SEC named Brent J. Fields as Associate Director of Disclosure Review and Accounting in the Division of Investment Management ("IM"). The agency appointed Vanessa Countryman as Acting Secretary to replace Mr. Fields. Mr. Fields has served as SEC Secretary since 2014. In his new role, he will supervise the IM Disclosure and Accounting Review programs. Ms. Countryman has served as Chief Counsel in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis for the past five years, and previously was Counsel to two SEC Commissioners.