The White House announced that Cheryl A. LaFleur will serve as Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"), effective July 30, 2014. Additionally, Norman C. Bay was designated Chair of FERC effective April 15, 2015. See: FERC Press Release.

The CFTC issued two separate notices indicating that individuals may submit whistleblower award claims regarding Hunter Wise Commodities and RP Martin Holdings and Martin Brokers. The CFTC issues Notices of Covered Action for each enforcement action where a final judgment or order - by itself or together with prior judgments or orders in the same action issued after July 21, 2010 - results in monetary sanctions exceeding $1 million. Individuals who voluntarily provided the CFTC with original information that led to the successful enforcement of a Covered Action are eligible to claim an award

On July 31, 2014, the Council of the European Union announced the imposition of sectoral sanctions on five Russian financial institutions, including Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, in response to Russia's "actions destablising the situation in eastern Ukraine." The new EU sanctions, which are aimed at "restrict[ing] Russia's access to EU capital markets," also target VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank ("VEB") and the Russian Agricultural Bank - all of which are majority-owned Russian state banks. VTB, Gazprombank, VEB and the Russian Agricultural Bank were sanctioned previously by the

The SEC approved BATS Exchange, Inc.'s ("BATS") Supplemental Competitive Liquidity Provider Program (the "Program") for a one-year pilot period. The Program is designed to incentivize quoting and volume in participating exchange-traded securities by paying a rebate to liquidity providers that are market makers in participating securities. The Program would be funded by participating issuers (or sponsors on behalf of issuers) that would pay an additional fee (the "SCLP Fee") beyond the standard BATS exchange listing fee. The Program is similar to other programs, such as the NYSE Arca's "ETP

The SEC announced an award of over $400,000 to a whistleblower who reported fraud to the SEC after a company failed to address an internal issue. Lofchie Comment: At last, a deserving whistleblower. As a general matter, it should be inappropriate to award whistleblowers who do not first attempt to correct matters internally, except perhaps in instances in which they would be at physical risk. In this case, the SEC press release states that "The whistleblower had tried on several occasions and through several mechanisms to have the matter addressed internally at the company. . . . The