The NFA held an audio conference for swap dealers and major swap participants to help its non-U.S. swap dealer members understand the review process and forthcoming feedback regarding the NFA's policies and procedures required by CEA Section 4s ("Registration and Regulation of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants").

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") warned investors to exercise caution if approached by third-party asset recovery companies. In an Informed Investor Advisory, NASAA warns against scams perpetrated by companies promising to help recoup lost investment funds for an upfront fee. NASAA recommended that before an investor hires a third-party asset recovery company, the investor should consider the following (i) the amount of the fees; (ii) the scope of the so-called investigations; (iii) the availability of legal services; (iv) the company's claims of coordination

New SRO rules, rule proposals and NMS plans were announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notices of exchange rule changes and proposals from December 7 to December 11. Clearance Settlement: ICE EU: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Relating to Gross Margining for Certain Categories of Customer Accounts (Release No. 34-76565; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-019; December 7, 2015) Co-Location: NYSE: Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change to Its Rules to Provide that the Co-location Services Offered By the Exchange Include Three Time Feeds

FINRA found that liquidity in the U.S. corporate-bond market is healthy "by most measures." FINRA's Research Note analyzed all Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine ("TRACE") transactions from 2003 to September 2015. FINRA's research found that: Most measures indicate a healthy market: new bond issuance is at a "record level," transaction volumes have continued to grow and the number of trades is rising. The cost of trading corporate bonds has been decreasing, as indicated by narrower bid-ask spreads and falling price impact to block trades. However, several measures offer evidence of

FinCEN Director Jennifer Calvery asserted that a key component to combat cyber threats is information sharing, both within and between financial institutions. She encouraged financial institutions to: (i) leverage their internal information technology resources to include cyber-derived information in suspicious activity reports ("SARs"), (ii) file SARs voluntarily on cyberattacks, and (iii) participate in voluntary information sharings with other financial institutions under the safe harbor granted in Section 314(b) ("Information Sharing Between Financial Institutions") of the U.S.A. Patriot