The Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee (the "Committee") of the SEC held its first meeting. The participants focused on Regulation NMS Rule 611, also known as the "Order Protection Rule" or "Trade-through Rule." The SEC established the Committee in February 2015 to provide a formal mechanism through which the SEC could receive advice and recommendations on equity market structure issues. Chair Mary Jo White delivered the opening remarks. She emphasized that market complexity is a key characteristic of equity markets and "deserves close attention." Complexity, Chair White explained

SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement ("Division") Andrew Ceresney delivered the keynote speech at the Fourth Annual White Collar Institute. In his speech, he discussed the successes of the SEC's national litigation program and how the Division selects forums in contested actions. First, Mr. Ceresney outlined the successes of the SEC's litigation program, explaining that the Division's litigators have handled an increasingly expansive docket of litigation and trials. He highlighted significant jury trial wins during the past year, as well as successes in administrative proceedings

The Office of Financial Research ("OFR") issued a working paper that examines the relationship between banks' credit default swaps ("CDS") spreads and possible measures of systemic importance. In the paper, the OFR finds banks perceived as too big to fail to have CDS spreads that are 44 to 80 points lower than other banks, depending on the asset-size threshold and controls used. Additionally, the study suggests that market participants pay more attention to asset size than to more complex measures, such as the designation of a globally systemically important bank. See: The Influence of

The NFA issued a notice to members reminding them that when a firm first applies for registration, the applicant must provide the address of its main office location and telephone number, and also may provide its general e-mail address. The NFA also reminded members that the applicant must list the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the individuals whom it designates as its contacts for a variety of functions, such as compliance, membership and enforcement. Additionally, the NFA stated that on an annual basis, registered firms must review the information on the NFA's Online Registration

According to an article written by Mercatus Scholar Andrea Castillo and published by reason.com, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ("CISA") is "unlikely to meaningfully prevent cyber-attacks as proponents claim, and could ultimately weaken cybersecurity." In the article, Ms. Castillo discusses how CISA would extend legal immunity to corporations that choose to grant the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence access to customer data considered relevant to a "cybersecurity threat." According to Ms. Castillo, the data collected