SIFMA submitted comments to the MSRB regarding a revised draft proposal for MSRB Rule G-42 on the standards of conduct and duties of municipal advisors when engaging in municipal advisory activities other than solicitations. While SIFMA praised MSRB's efforts in the revision, SIFMA stated that it still has concerns with certain aspects of the revised proposal. According to SIFMA, the proposed prohibition on principal transactions should only apply to transactions that are directly related to the advice provided by the municipal advisor, rather than transactions that are unrelated to the

The SEC announced that the national securities exchanges ("exchanges") and FINRA filed a proposal to establish a national market system plan that would implement a 12-month pilot program. The proposed program would widen minimum quoting and trading increments ("tick sizes") for certain stocks with smaller capitalization, and would include stocks with a market capitalization of $5 billion or less, an average daily trading volume of one million shares or less and a closing share price of at least $2 per share. The pilot will consist of one control group and three test groups, with 400 securities

FINRA announced that it fined Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and ordered restitution for failing to provide best execution in customer transactions involving nonconvertible preferred securities, and for related supervisory deficiencies. According to FINRA, one of the firm's trading desks employed a manual pricing methodology for nonconvertible preferred securities that did not incorporate the National Best Bid and Offer ("NBBO") appropriately for those securities. As a result, the firm priced customer transactions at a rate that was inferior to the NBBO. Additionally, FINRA stated, the firm's

The CFTC issued an order filing and settling charges against Merrill Lynch for failing to diligently supervise its officers', employees' and agents' processing of futures exchange and clearing fees charged to its customers in the period from January 2010 through April 2013. According to the CFTC order, Merrill Lynch's fee reconciliation process for identifying and correcting discrepancies between the invoices from the exchange clearinghouses and the amounts charged to its customers had been "faulty for more than two years." As a result, Merrill over-accrued fees from some clients and under

SIFMA recommended a holiday for the market on Labor Day in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. Numerous markets, including CME Group, CBOE, C2, CFE Trading, BATS Exchange, and NASDAQ will be closed. Lofchie Video Selection: For Those of Us in the Office. See: SIFMA Press Release.