The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced charges against a former investment management firm employee (the "employee") for obstruction of justice and perjury relating to an investigation by the SEC into potential violations of the federal securities laws. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, when a representative of the SEC called the firm in an attempt to speak with the firm's President, the employee, on three occasions, answered the phone and pretended to be either the investment firm President or another employee. See: Press Release; SEC Litigation

NFA issued a Notice reminding NFA Members, including swap dealers ("SDs") and major swap participants ("MSPs"), of the requirements to complete NFA's Annual Questionnaire. Beginning April 1, 2015, each SD and MSP will be required to complete the SD-MSP Questionnaire as part of the firm's annual membership renewal process. The Questionnaire provides NFA with information regarding a firm's business activities. When completing this year's Annual Questionnaire, NFA is also requiring each SD and MSP to provide the contact information for two employees (i) who have the authority to make key

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Wednesday announced that they are extending the resolution plan submission deadline for American International Group, Inc., General Electric Capital Corporation, Inc., and Prudential Financial, Inc. The three companies will be required to submit their revised plans by Dec. 31, 2015. See: Press Release; Banking and Consumer Regulatory Policy. Related news: FDIC and FRB Release Public Sections of Resolution Plans for Banks with Less than $100 Billion in Qualifying Non-Bank Assets (January 15, 2015); FDIC Issues Guidance

The FINRA-proposed rule change to extend the tier size pilot of FINRA Rule 6433 for an additional three months, until May 15, 2015, was published in the Federal Register. The tier size pilot was filed with the SEC on October 6, 2011 to amend the minimum quotation sizes for OTC Equity Securities. The purpose of the extension is to provide FINRA with additional time to finalize its recommendation with regard to the pilot. The rule change is effective immediately. See: 80 FR 8741. Related news: FINRA Proposes to Extend Tier Size Pilot (January 30, 2015); FINRA Rule Change to Extend Tier Size

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") and FIA Europe published a report on MiFID II technical advice issued by the European Securities Markets Authorities ("ESMA"). The report focused on high-frequency and algorithmic trading and provided proposed definitions of those terms. According to the report, MiFID II aims to develop "considerably stronger rules" concerning high-frequency trading and algorithmic trading to ensure that firms conducting these activities are subject to appropriate controls and oversight. The report also obligates firms to follow a consistent set of rules regarding