The SEC Division of Investment Management issued an IM Guidance Update to address inquires about "mixed and shared funding" orders. According to the IM Guidance Update, SEC staff members believe that a mutual fund is not required to obtain a mixed and shared funding order prior to offering its shares as an investment option under a variable life and/or annuity contract. Additionally, a fund that has obtained a mixed and shared funding order previously need not comply with the terms and conditions of that order if the exemptions granted by it are not being relied upon by any person. See: SEC IM

Mercatus Scholar and former Congressional and SEC staff attorney Hester Peirce posted a working paper, titled "Regulating through the Back Door at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission," which argues that the informal mechanisms through which the CFTC regulates undermine public confidence and harm compliance. Ms. Peirce argues that, when the CFTC utilizes "less formal and rigorous options" - including guidance documents, staff letters and settlement agreements - public confidence in the regulatory process is eroded, compliance efforts are hindered and the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"

FinCEN issued a cautionary statement to banks about their efforts to comply with Bank Secrecy Act obligations. FinCEN warned banks not to be over aggressive on MSB accounts. FinCEN stated its "concern" that banks are "indiscriminately terminating" and refusing to open accounts for money service business ("MSB") clients because of the risks that are sometimes associated with businesses that facilitate wire transfers or remit money overseas. FinCEN warned banks in no uncertain terms that painting with such a broad brush was unacceptable. Indeed, FinCEN criticized banks for taking an aggressive

ESMA issued a consultation paper, titled "Review of the Technical Standards on Reporting under Article 9 of EMIR," which discusses issues with the current regulatory technical standards for EMIR reporting. ESMA proposed to revise the regulatory technical standards in order to clarify the interpretation of the data fields needed for reporting to trade repositories. The clarifications are introduced where either (i) the description of a field allows for interpretation of the content, or (ii) confusion over a field's name or description led to inconsistent approaches to completing it. Se e

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight announced further implementation of the trade execution requirement for certain interest rate and credit default swaps. In Letter 14-62, the CFTC provided no-action relief previously for certain swaps required to be traded on a swap execution facility ("SEF") or designated contract market ("DCM") to the extent that those swaps were part of a package transaction. The CFTC determined that additional relief is necessary to provide market participants with adequate time to comply fully with the trade execution requirement with respect to swap components of