The MSRB and the Municipal Forum of New York announced a joint education and outreach seminar for industry professionals on the evolution and emerging trends of the municipal market. The seminar will be held in New York City on July 28, 2015. See: Registration for the Seminar; Press Release.

FINRA issued the first in a six-part series of podcasts about its Regulatory and Examination Priorities for 2015, as highlighted in FINRA's Annual Letter to Firms. It also delineated five recommended areas in which to improve compliance, as listed in the outline that follows. Customers' Interests First According to FINRA, certain firms do not put the interests of their customers first, which leads ultimately to lasting consequences for especially vulnerable investors. FINRA suggested that firms can serve their customers best and reduce regulatory risk by aligning their own interests with those

CME Group announced a disciplinary action against Tanyard Creek Capital LLC for violating CME Rules that pertain to position limits. CME Group found that Tanyard Creek Capital LLC, a Commodity Trading Advisor, exceeded the spot-month speculative position limit of 950 contracts in the October 2012 Lean Hog futures contracts ("Lean Hogs") by 324 contracts long, or 34 percent. According to CME Group, the firm knew that it should reduce its Lean Hogs position before the market closed and had ample opportunity to do so, but failed to take the necessary steps to ensure compliance with the position

The American Council of Life Insurers ("ACLI") submitted an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of plaintiff, MetLife, Inc. ("MetLife"), in MetLife, Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, Civil Action No. 15-0045 (RMC). The brief argues against the designation of the plaintiff as a systemically important financial institution. In the brief, ACLI stated that it fully endorses MetLife's argument that the designation by the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") of the firm as a systemically important financial institution ("SIFI"

The CFTC voted unanimously to propose a rule that would apply the CFTC's margin requirements for uncleared swaps in the context of cross-border transactions. On June 29, 2015, the CFTC voted to publish proposed rules regarding the cross-border application of its margin requirements for uncleared swaps (the " CFTC Cross-Border Proposal" or " Proposal"). The CFTC Cross-Border Proposal follows the CFTC's proposal for margin requirements for uncleared swaps (" Margin Proposal"), [1] which was published in October 2014 and included an advance notice for proposed rulemaking as to the cross-border