The CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued three letters exempting CPOs from the requirement to have an independent public accountant audit the financial statement of the pool's annual report pursuant to CFTC rules 4.7(b)(3)(i) and 4.22(d). These exemptions are applicable to the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2013.

The CFTC issued an Amended and Restated Order to extend the CFTC's designation of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation and Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication joint venture ("DTCC-SWIFT") as the provider of legal entity identifiers ("LEIs"), pursuant to the CFTC's swap data recordkeeping and reporting rules. DTCC-SWIFT's original designation was made on July 23, 2012 for a term of two years. The Amended and Restated Order extends the DTCC-SWIFT designation for an additional year to allow the terms of a transition into a fully operational global LEI system to be

The CFTC issued an Order against Lloyds Banking Group plc and Lloyds Bank plc (collectively, "Lloyds") to bring and settle charges for acts of manipulation, attempted manipulation and false reporting of LIBOR for Sterling, U.S. Dollar and Yen. The CFTC also settled charges that Lloyds aided and abetted the attempts of derivatives traders at Rabobank to manipulation Yen LIBOR. In a related action, the U.S. Department of Justice entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Lloyds, and deferred criminal wire fraud charges in exchange for Lloyds' agreeing to an $86 million penalty and

The SEC charged Lava Flow, Inc. ("Lava Flow"), an alternative trading system ("ATS"), with improperly disclosing its subscribers' confidential trading information to an affiliate. Regulations require an ATS to establish and enforce safeguards and procedures to protect the confidential trading information of its subscribers. According to the SEC's order, over the course of a three-year period, Lava Flow violated Regulation ATS Rule 301(b)(10) ("Requirements for Alternative Trading Systems") by allowing its affiliate, Lava Trading, Inc. ("Lava Trading") to access and use Lava Flow's customers'

Ukraine-Related Developments Canada On Thursday July 24, 2014, Canada announced additional targeted sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian individuals and entities in connection with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Significantly, Canada followed the approach adopted by the United States last week by imposing sectoral sanctions on three large Russian companies in the financial and energy industries. The three companies, OAO Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank ("VEB"), and Novatek, were all named to the U.S. Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List on July 16. Canada did not designate Rosneft, Russia's