Due to continuing fraudulent solicitations that purport to be affiliated with or sponsored by the SEC, the SEC issued an updated investor alert regarding government impersonators. According to the investor alert, the SEC does not "endorse investment offers, assist in the purchase or sale of securities, or participate in money transfers." See: Updated Investor Alert.

FINRA updated the FAQs for firms participating in the SEC's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative ("MCDC Initiative") statutory disqualification process. The FAQs address topics that firms participating in the MCDC Initiative have recently raised with FINRA. For general information relating to FINRA's statutory disqualification process, FINRA recommended that market participants review FINRA's Statutory Disqualification page. See: Updated FAQ.

The CFTC fined Libero Commodities SA ("Libero"), an agricultural trading company, for failing to comply with its legal obligation as a reportable trader. Libero failed to submit weekly call cotton purchases and sales to the CFTC. Specifically, the CFTC issued an Order which found that on approximately 200 occasions from May 2010 through April 29, 2014, Libero held or controlled at least 100 cotton futures positions, but failed to file weekly CFTC Form 304 Reports as required by CFTC Rule 19.02. The CFTC fined Libero $480,000 as a result of the firm's failure to file the necessary reports

The Office of Financial Research ("OFR") released two working papers that present new approaches to evaluating the risks of a central clearing framework. The first paper Systemic Risk: The Dynamics under Central Clearing , focuses on concentration risks to a central clearing counterparty ("CCP") posed by large clearing members. The model shows that, as banks hedge undesired risks by trading through the CCP, systemic risk can build up over time. According to the paper, larger clearing members crowd out smaller clearing members. This creates a concentration that increases the exposure of a CCP

The SEC and FINRA announced that registration is open for the 2015 National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers. The program is targeted to compliance, audit, and risk officers of broker-dealer firms and branch offices. It is intended to provide an open forum for regulators and industry professionals to discuss compliance practices and exchange ideas on effective compliance structures. The program is scheduled to be held on July 14, 2015 and will focus on 2015 priorities for SEC and FINRA as well as current topics of interest including cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, and firms