The CFTC Division of Clearing and Risk, Division of Market Oversight and Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight further extended no-action relief for a Regional Transmission Organization ("RTO") from certain CEA provisions for specified transactions that are offered or entered into pursuant to its FERC-approved tariff. The additional no-action relief exempts agreements, contracts and transactions for the purchase and sale of certain "transmission congestion rights," "energy transactions," and "operating reserve transactions," ("Subject Transactions") from the provisions of the CEA

FINRA released the second podcast in a four-part continuing education series by the Securities Industry Regulatory Council. It highlights regulatory and sales practices for firms to consider in their firm element training plans. This episode focuses on municipal securities. The following new and updated advisory items related to municipal securities were covered: The MSRB filed a content outline for a new Series 50 examination for municipal advisor representatives, which will be available in 2016. The MSRB amended Rule G-14 ("Transaction Reporting") and changed the real-time transaction

FINRA ordered an investment bank to pay more than $10 million in restitution for suitability violations relating to mutual fund transactions. FINRA found that from January 2010 through June 2015, the bank's supervisory systems were not sufficient to prevent unsuitable switching. In particular, the firm incorrectly defined a mutual switch in its supervisory procedures to require three separate transactions within a certain time frame. Based on this incorrect definition, the bank (i) failed to act on thousands of automated alerts for potentially unsuitable transactions, (ii) excluded

The OCC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the FDIC made annual adjustments in the asset-size thresholds used to define "small bank," "small savings association," "intermediate small bank," and "intermediate small savings association" under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The adjustments were published in the Federal Register. The agencies also made technical edits to remove obsolete references to the Office of Thrift Supervision and update cross-references to regulations implementing certain Federal consumer financial laws in their CRA regulations. The adjustments

The SEC solicited comment on the MSRB's proposal to expand the scope of its "pay-to-play" rules to cover the activities of municipal advisors. The proposal would amend MSRB Rule G-37 ("Political Contributions and Prohibitions on Municipal Securities Business") in order to safeguard the municipal securities market against pay-to-play practices. The MSRB also proposed related amendments to MSRB Rules G-8 ("Books and Records to Be Made by Brokers, Dealers and Municipal Securities Dealers") and G-9 ("Preservation of Records"), as well as to Forms G-37 and G-37x. If approved, the rule change would