The Board of Directors of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board ("MSRB") met from April 22 to 23, 2015. At the meeting, the Board of Directors discussed the following rulemaking topics: pre-trade information, including an update from staff on the potential addition of pre-trade information to the EMMA Web site, and the staff's plan to strengthen its continued analysis by reviewing data provided voluntarily by market participants; best execution interpretive guidance; and pricing reference information. See: MSRB Press Release.

CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo issued a statement commending the CFTC for its recent steps to improve the regulatory framework for swaps trade execution and swap execution facility ("SEF") operability. Commissioner Giancarlo stated that the CFTC's recent implementation of "commonsense measures" address the concerns raised in his January 2015 White Paper; namely, "streamlining the process of correcting error trades, flexibly interpreting SEF's financial resources requirement and simplifying swap trade confirmations by SEFs." See: Commissioner Giancarlo's Statement. See also: CFTC

SIFMA requested that the IRS establish a safe harbor, which would not penalize a taxpayer's failure to file a corrected IRS Form 1099-B, -DIV, -INT, -MISC, or -OID if the amount of the correction was de minimis. Under SIFMA's proposal, except when requested by a payee, a taxpayer would not have to file a corrected Form 1099 unless any box within the applicable form exceeded $50. Asamoto Comment: Simply put, SIFMA is requesting that a corrected Form 1099 would not be required at all if all of the boxes within the applicable form had changed by $50 or less. See: SIFMA Letter; SIFMA Announcement

The SEC issued a notice soliciting comments on rules for the collection of information provided for in the privacy notice and opt out notice provisions of Regulation S-P. The SEC plans to submit the collection of information rules to the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") for extension and approval. The privacy notice and opt out notice provisions of Regulation S-P (implementing Title V of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act) include the requirement that at the time of establishing a customer relationship with a consumer and not less than annually during the continuation of such relationship, a

The SEC issued a notice soliciting comments regarding the extension and approval of its "risk assessment rules". These rules address the collection of information required by Exchange Act Rules 17h-1T and 17h-2T. The SEC plans to submit the collection of information rules to the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") for extension and approval. According to the SEC, the collection of information required by Exchange Act Rules 17h-1T and 17h-2T, referred to as the "risk assessment rules," is necessary to enable the SEC to "monitor the activities of a broker-dealer affiliate whose business