MFA published policy recommendations on equity market structure issues and shared these recommendations with the SEC and other regulators. The recommendations concern three specific areas: improving market resilience and risk management; increasing disclosure and transparency; and implementing careful and controlled pilot programs. See: Equity Market Structure Reform Recommendations; Cover Letter for Recommendations; MFA Press Release.

FINRA released a podcast summarizing the latest FINRA notices, compliance resources and news from September 2014. The podcast highlighted recent regulatory notices, including: Notice 14-35, requesting comments on a revised proposal to combine NASD and NYSE customer account statement rules into one consolidated FINRA rule; Notice 14-36, announcing that FINRA will no longer provide historical research reports for over-the-counter bulletin board securities and will add fees for OTC reporting facility trade reporting and data when it moves to the multi-product platform on November 17, 2014; and

The European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") issued a consultation paper regarding the application of the definition of "derivative" or "derivative contract" for some asset classes under MiFID. According to ESMA, the different approaches to the interpretation of MiFID I across member states mean that there is no commonly adopted application of the definition of "derivative" or "derivative contract" in the EU for some asset classes, the practical consequences of which have come to the forefront with the implementation of EMIR. The European Commission therefore invited ESMA to consider

The European Securities and Markets Authority published a final report on draft regulatory technical standards ("RTS") relating to the clearing of interest rate swaps under EMIR, as well as a consultation paper on the clearing of foreign exchange ("FX") non-deliverable forwards under EMIR. The draft RTS report provides, among other things: an explanation of the procedural aspects of the clearing obligation; clarifications of the structure of the classes of OTC derivatives that are proposed for the clearing obligation; an outline of the determination of the interest rate classes of OTC

In the latest installment of the Energy Metro Desk series "Drums along the Potomac," editor-in-chief John Sodergreen discusses, among other things, the recent amendment to the definition of "swap dealer" and the decision regarding the CFTC's cross-border guidance in SIFMA v. CFTC. In the Energy Metro Desk article, Mr. Sodergreen describes the recent 4-0 vote by CFTC commissioners to adopt amendments to the swap dealer definition as a "slam dunk." According to Mr. Sodergreen, the final rulemaking, which amends the exclusion of utility operations-related swaps from the de minimis, could be a