The NFA issued a Notice to Members on behalf of NFA Chairman Christopher Hehmeyer and the Executive Committee to address accusations of improprieties in regard to the January 2014 Executive Committee meeting and the Board's subsequent February 2014 election of public representatives. The NFA explained that in January of each year, the NFA's Executive Committee makes recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the election of public representatives at the February Board meeting. According to NFA Board Member, James Koutoulas, the NFA engaged in improprieties during the 2014 nomination

FINRA issued an Information Notice to remind firms of their Annual Audit, Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single ("FOCUS"), Form Custody, and supplemental FOCUS Report filing obligations. According to the Information Notice, all such filings must be received by FINRA by their required due dates to avoid specified fees as set forth in FINRA's by-laws and to avoid suspension of FINRA membership. All filings submitted to FINRA must be made electronically though FINRA's Firm Gateway. See: Information Notice.

FINRA fined Monex Securities Inc. and ordered the firm to disgorge commissions for permitting unregistered foreign individuals to sell securities on the firm's behalf and related supervisory deficiencies. FINRA found that the Monex Securities CEO executed an agreement on behalf of Monex with its parent company in Mexico that permitted numerous employees to conduct securities business on Monex's behalf. The employees, among other things, collected client information needed to open accounts, made investment recommendations to clients and transmitted orders. FINRA found that the U.S. broker

FINRA released the second podcast in a three-part series on topics to consider when planning Firm Element training, as identified in the CE Council's Fall 2014 Firm Element Advisory. The podcast focused on new and updated topics, including: MSRB's new amendments to Professional Qualification Requirements rule; consolidating MSRB fair-pricing obligations into MSRB Rule G-30; CBOE amendments to certain margin rules for volatility index options; and FINRA revisions to Series 23, Series 24 and Series 26 examination programs. See: FINRA Podcast; Transcription of Podcast. Related news: FINRA Podcast

On Tuesday, December 30, 2014, the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") issued General License No. 5, authorizing certain activities prohibited by Executive Order 13685 that are necessary to wind down operations involving Crimea. E.O. 13685 generally prohibits new investments in Crimea, as well as the trade in goods, services or technology with Crimea. Through February 1, 2015, the new License permits activities related to the divestiture of investments held in Crimea prior to the December 19, 2014 effective date of E.O. 13685. This includes the winding down of