FINRA issued a notice to reiterate the best execution obligations that apply when firms receive, handle, route or execute customer orders in equities, options and fixed income securities. In a separate notice, the MSRB issued implementation guidance to assist municipal securities dealers in complying with the MSRB best execution rule that comes into effect March 21, 2016. In FINRA Regulatory Notice 15-46, FINRA provides guidance on how a firm may satisfy its best execution obligations, including: (i) when regular and rigorous review of execution quality as opposed to order-by-order review is

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a final rule amending its regulations governing market-based rates for public utilities. The rule is intended to foster competition in the sale of primary frequency response service. The final rule permits the sale of such a service at market-based rates by sellers with market-based rate authority for sales of energy and capacity. The final rule will become effective 90 days after publication in the Federal Register.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White advocated for greater diversity in U.S. boardrooms. She brought attention to the "significant gap to close" in diversifying boardrooms, which she argued was needed in order to better reflect the marketplace and to bring the benefit of broader perspectives. She pointed out that at S&P 500 companies, women are 45 percent of the employees, nearly 37 percent of mid-level managers, a quarter of senior level managers, 4.4 percent of the CEOs and 19.2 percent of board members. Ms. White stated that despite the intense focus in recent years, "we have not seen nearly enough

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") provided an overview of its major current and long-term initiatives in its Fall 2015 Rulemaking Agenda. Agenda items include: beginning a rulemaking process to address concerns related to the use of arbitration agreements in connection with credit cards, deposit accounts, payday loans and various other consumer financial products and services; developing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address concerns about consumer creditworthiness in the markets for payday, auto title and similar lending products; finalizing a proposed rule that would

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 November 16 to November 20. Clearance Settlement: ICC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change Related to the ICC Rule Enforcement Process for Missed Submissions (Release No. 34-76479; File No. SR-ICC-2015-015; November 19, 2015) NSCC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change to Permit Trades in Eligible Fixed Income Securities Scheduled to Settle on Day After Trade Date to Be Processed for Settlement at National Securities Clearing