The CFTC issued an order to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission ("HKSFC") permitting licensed corporations to solicit and accept orders and funds directly from U.S. customers for trading on any exchange subject to HKSFC's oversight without having to register with the CFTC as future commission merchants ("FCMs"). According to the CFTC, this exemption follows similar exemptions granted to other foreign exchanges or foreign regulators pursuant to CFTC Rule 30.10 ("Petitions for Exemption"). Relief is effective as to each foreign firm upon the filing of certain representations with the

The CFTC held a public discussion on issues related to recovery and orderly wind down of derivatives clearing organizations ("DCOs"). The roundtable discussion was broken into four sessions: (i) variation margin gains haircutting ("VMGH"), (ii) re-establishing a matched book, (iii) wind down, and (iv) liquidity risk management. A key takeaway included general agreement from participants that VMGH should be used only as a last resort and the governance process should include all stakeholders. Additionally, many participants supported broad participation in auctions after a clearinghouse default

SEC Director of the Division of Enforcement ("Division") Andrew Ceresney testified before the House Committee on Financial Services. He spoke about the Division's enforcement priorities and how it will use the additional resources in the SEC's 2016 Budget Request. According to Mr. Ceresney, the SEC's FY 2016 Budget requested an additional 93 positions for the Division. He explained that the Division will use the additional positions and resources to: expand the Division's data analytics expertise to assist in the development and implementation of data projects and new investigative tools, as

SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke about shareholder activism, the shareholder proposal process and fee-shifting bylaws at the 27th Annual Corporate Law Institute of Tulane University Law School. Chair White described her directive to SEC staff to review Exchange Act Rule 14a-8 regarding shareholder proposals and the interpretation of the term "directly conflicts." In light of that review, the Division of Corporation Finance decided not to express a view on the provision during the current proxy season. Chair White stated that while "any frustrated expectations are regrettable," her request "was

The SEC's final rules regarding (i) the registration of security-based swap data repositories ("SBSDRs") (the " SBSDR Rules"), (ii) the requirements for reporting and the public dissemination of security-based swap ("SBS") data (" Reg. SBSR"), and (iii) the implementation of Reg. SBSR (" Reg. SBSR Proposal") were published in the Federal Register. Generally, the rules require market participants to report creation and life-cycle data regarding SBS transactions. As with the CFTC reporting requirements for swaps, the rules provide a "waterfall" approach for determining who is required to report