The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System's final rule to amend capital planning and stress testing rules was published in the Federal Register. The final rule adjusts the due date for bank holding companies ("BHCs") with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more to submit their capital plans and stress test results. For the 2015 capital plan cycle, such BHCs are required to submit capital plans on or before January 5, 2015, unchanged from prior years. For subsequent cycles beginning in 2016, participating BHCs will be required to submit their capital plans and stress testing

The FIA ("Futures Industry Association") issued a notice ("Notice") regarding privately negotiated off-exchange futures or option on futures transactions, which are known as exchange for related positions ("EFRP"). The Notice provides a short summary of certain common requirements of the rules and guidance issued by CME Group and ICE Futures. In the Notice, FIA explained that customers are subject to the jurisdiction of the exchange through which the EFRP transaction is entered into; therefore, they could be required to produce records and otherwise cooperate with any inquiry that exchanges

British regulators announced the launch of a consultation document to solicit views on fixed income, currency and commodity ("FICC") markets. The consultation document is part of the Fair and Effective Markets Review ("FEMR"), which is led by Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Minouche Shafik, CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") Martin Wheatley, and UK Treasury Director General of Financial Services Charles Roxburgh. The document begins with an overview of a number of major trading and manipulation violations in FICC markets, including the manipulation of benchmarks in interest

At the Annual Securities Regulation Seminar in Los Angeles, SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher delivered remarks in which he discussed the "incredible burden imposed" by Dodd-Frank and which initiatives the SEC should prioritize going forward. According to Commissioner Gallagher, the SEC is on a "precipice, teetering on the edge of irrelevancy as we devote a wildly disproportionate amount of resources to implementing an agenda that is no less political than other, more widely discussed pieces of single party legislation." Commissioner Gallagher explained that the principles upon which Dodd

SIFMA provided comments to the SEC about two FINRA-proposed rule changes regarding (i) payments to unregistered persons and (ii) background checks. In the first letter, SIFMA stated that it has long been a supporter of enhanced clarity in the rules applicable to dealings with unregistered persons. According to SIFMA, however, some aspects of the proposal would benefit from additional specificity. SIFMA also noted that certain interpretive challenges remain with respect to the foreign finders exception "for which further guidance is necessary to enact a final rule that is efficient and