At the Asian Financial Forum, CFTC Chair Timothy Massad spoke about the importance of creating a strong international regulatory framework in order to harmonize cross-border swaps. Chair Massad explained that his goal would be to work with regulators to create a framework that provided transparency and "sensible" oversight. One way to achieve this goal, according to Chair Massad, would be to create transparency that could "encourage innovation" and lead to the development of contracts to "enable businesses to hedge different types of risk." Chair Massad emphasized that global regulators must

The CFTC fined and simultaneously settled charges against two related firms for failing to disclose that their cocoa futures trades were not independently controlled. The CFTC found that, between February 2011 and January 2013, the cocoa futures traders at the two firms had access to each other's position information and regularly discussed the cocoa markets. According to the CFTC, Olam Americas, Inc.'s cocoa traders placed orders to buy and sell cocoa futures for Olam International, Ltd.'s account, and an Olam Americas, Inc.'s cocoa trader supervised certain of Olam International, Ltd.'s

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued an updated booklet, titled "Litigation and Other Legal Matters." The booklet is part of the Comptroller's Handbook. The booklet, which replaces one of the same title issued in February 2000, was revised to: (i) provide guidance to examiners in identifying risks directly associated with potential or pending litigation and other related risk factors, (ii) establish supervisory expectations for managing legal risk, and (iii) include expanded examination procedures to assess the quantity of risk and quality of risk management. See

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") announced the formation of a new advisory council that will be comprised of individuals with consumer- and community development-related expertise. The Community Advisory Council ("CAC") aims to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the FRB on policy matters and issues of interest. The CAC, which will meet semiannually with the FRB in Washington, D.C., will have fifteen members who will serve staggered three-year terms and will be selected by the FRB through a public nomination process. See: FRB Press Release.

On September 8, October 28, and December 9, 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") staff conducted a series of technical workshops to evaluate issues regarding price formation in the energy and ancillary services markets operated by Regional Transmission Organizations ("RTOs") and Independent System Operators ("ISOs") ("RTOs/ISOs"). FERC issued a notice soliciting comments from interested persons regarding issues raised in the technical workshops or the questions listed in the notice. Comments must be filed by 5:00 pm (EST) on February 19, 2015. See: FERC Notice.