The staff of the SEC Division of Corporation Finance (the "Division") will not recommend enforcement action against a U.S. company for excluding a shareholder proposal from its proxy materials. The proposal would have required shareholders to go to arbitration on federal securities law claims against the company. The company, Johnson & Johnson, had requested that Division staff allow it to omit the proposal from its 2019 proxy materials pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 14a-8(i)(2), which permits a company to exclude a shareholder proposal "[i]f the proposal would, if implemented, cause the

The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight, Division of Swap Dealer & Intermediary Oversight, and Division of Clearing & Risk published examination priorities. The Division of Market Oversight ("DMO") will focus on "emerging areas of self-regulation, where regulatory requirements and best practices may still be developing." The DMO stated it will conduct examinations in the following areas: cryptocurrency surveillance practices; surveillance for disruptive trading; trade surveillance practices; block trade surveillance practices; market surveillance practices; real-time market monitoring

The MSRB proposed to amend Rule A-16 to establish an examination fee for the new Municipal Advisor Principal Qualification Examination ("Series 54"). Under the amendment, a municipal adviser would be assessed a fee of $150 per examination for each person associated with the adviser taking the test. The MSRB designated the amendment for immediate effectiveness.

The CFTC extension of the comment period to March 15, 2019 for swap execution facility rule proposals was published in the Federal Register ( see here and here). As previously covered, the extension covers both (i) the proposed rules concerning swap execution facilities and trade execution, and (ii) the request for comments regarding the practice of "post-trade name give-up."

The FDIC extended the comment period for feedback on ways in which it can enhance the deposit insurance application process. The original deadline of February 11, 2019 was extended to March 31, 2019. As previously covered, the FDIC is seeking feedback on (i) ways in which the FDIC can support the evolution of emerging technology and FinTech companies, (ii) parts of the application process that might affect future applications and (iii) possible changes to the application process for community bank proposals.