Blackrock issued a report, titled "Corporate Bond Structure: The Time for Reform Is Now," that calls for changes in the secondary trading markets for corporate bonds. The report explains that the system for trading corporate bonds on a secondary market is "masked" by low interest rates and low volatility, coupled with the positive impact of quantitative easing (QE) on credit markets. This environment, according to the report, "breeds complacency" for both issuers and investors. The paper lays out, among other things, four recommendations for reform: more "all to all" trading venues – not just

The CFTC published the text of both the proposed rule regarding margin requirements for uncleared swaps and the final rule to exclude utility operations-related swaps with utility special entities from the de minimis threshold for swaps with special entities. The comment deadline for the proposed rule and the effective date for the final rule will be announced when the rules are published in the Federal Register, which is expected to happen soon. See: Text of the Proposed Margin Requirements Rule for Uncleared Swaps; Text of Final Rule on Swaps with Special Entity Utilities. Related news: CFTC

The SEC charged an investment advisory firm with breaching its fiduciary duty to a pair of private equity funds by sharing expenses between a company in one's portfolio and a company in the other's portfolio in a manner that improperly benefited one fund over the other. The adviser had integrated the two portfolio companies and managed them as one, even though the funds were separately advised and had distinct sets of investors. The Order found that one fund paid more than its fair share of joint expenses that benefited both funds, and that the adviser failed to adopt and implement written

The SEC charged a broker-dealer/investment adviser with failing to maintain controls to prevent one of its employees from insider trading, and tipping others, as to information concerning a public company that had been provided to one of the representative's customers. There are a variety of violations are cited in the attached order, most notably the failure of the firm to respond to the red flags of the event or to co-ordinate internally. See: SEC Order; SEC Press Release.

The SEC announced that Jason S. Patil began work at the SEC on September 22, 2014 as an Administrative Law Judge. With Mr. Patil's hiring, the SEC has nearly doubled the staff of the Office of the Administrative Law Judges this year. See: SEC Press Release.