FINRA imposed a $15 million fine on a broker-dealer for supervisory failures relating to the firm's equity research activities. The broker-dealer, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. ("Citi"), was charged with failures involving: 1. Selective Dissemination of Non-Public Research. According to FINRA, Citi's equity research analysts had frequent contact with institutional customers, including hosting "idea dinners" with institutional customers at which research analysts discussed their latest ideas, and participated in stock-picking contests. In certain cases, the research analysts provided non

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") issued a Financial Institution Letter regarding the final rule on assessments, which revises the FDIC's risk-based deposit insurance assessment system to reflect changes in the regulatory capital rules. The letter clarified that the final rule: conforms the capital ratios and ratio thresholds in the small-institution assessment system to the new prompt corrective action ("PCA") capital ratios and ratio thresholds recently adopted by the federal banking agencies; amends the assessment base calculation for custodial banks to conform to the asset

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") issued its first Semiannual Report on Banking Applications Activity, which provides aggregate information on proposals filed by banking organizations and reviewed by the FRB. See: Semiannual Report on Banking Applications Activity; FRB Press Release.

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight ("DMO") issued three separate rule enforcement reviews of certain designated contract markets ("DCMs"), including the Chicago Board of Trade ("CBOT"), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ("CME"), the New York Mercantile Exchange ("NYMEX") and the Commodity Exchange, Inc. ("COMEX") (collectively, the "Exchanges"). The reviews assessed compliance with CEA Core Principles for DCMs and related regulations with respect to (i) the CBOT and CME audit trail program, (ii) the NYMEX and COMEX trade practice surveillance program, and (iii) the CBOT, CME, COMEX and NYMEX

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") issued a semi-annual update of its rulemaking agenda. The update identifies issues related to mortgage disclosures and debt collection as two of the CFPB's larger priorities. The CFPB stated that it is focusing on topics that include the following: federal mortgage disclosures; overdraft rules; privacy disclosures; debt collection; payday loans; and prepaid cards. See: CFPB Press Release; Rulemaking Agenda.