SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar provided a set of principles, thoughts, and ideas that he hoped future Commissioners, and their counsels, may find useful. He will be leaving the SEC at the end of December. Commissioner Aguilar commented on: Personal Staff: Choosing the right counsel may be one of the most important decisions [that one can] make as a Commissioner. He urged future Commissioners to consider their counsels to be their alter egos. Internal Procedures: Future Commissioners must familiarize themselves with the Reorganization Plan No. 10 of 1950, which provides that the SEC Chair

To help its non-U.S. swap dealer members understand the review process and subsequent feedback, the NFA will host a short audio conference held by its senior staff on December 9, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. EST.

The SEC warned investors that exchange-traded notes ("ETNs") "are complex and involve many risks for investors, including in the loss of [one's] entire investment." In its latest investor bulletin, the SEC recommended that, before purchasing an ETN, an investor should consider: whether ETNs are a suitable investment for the investor; what fees are associated with an ETN; whether the investor understands how the ETN's reference index or benchmark is calculated; whether the investor understands how the indicative values and redemption values are calculated and what they measure; and whether the

The MSRB named the members of its 2016 Investor Advisory Group. The group was created in order to provide additional expertise on municipal market practices, transparency and investor protection issues to the MSRB's Board of Directors. Members of the 2016 MSRB Investor Advisory Group are as follows: Joseph John Bridy, Partner, Hamlin Capital Management; Joseph P. Darcy, Executive Vice President, Sector Head, Municipal Fixed Income, Hartford Investment Management Company; Lyle Fitterer, Managing Director, Head of Tax-Exempt Fixed Income, Wells Capital Management; Thalia Meehan, Portfolio

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that the threshold for exempting loans from special appraisal requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans during 2016 will remain at $25,500.