The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor bulletin to provide investors with basic information to help them make informed financial decisions and avoid common scams. The bulletin was composed of ten points: checking the background of an investment professional is easy and free through public disclosure websites, including Investment Adviser Public Disclosure and BrokerCheck; it can be costly to ignore the fees associated with buying, owning and selling an investment product; diversification can help reduce the overall risk of an investment portfolio; promises of high

SEC Chair Mary Jo White issued a statement on the fourth anniversary of the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act. Chair White stated that, after Dodd-Frank was passed, the SEC implemented new restrictions on the proprietary activities of financial institutions ( e.g., the Volcker Rule), created a new regulatory framework for municipal advisors, issued new rules for previously unregulated derivatives and began implementing additional executive compensation disclosures. Moving forward, Chair White stated, the SEC "must work with intensity" and be more deliberate in considering and prioritizing the

Research and consultancy firm Prequin issued a report regarding hedge fund managers' responses to and compliance with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD") as the July 22, 2014 implementation date approaches. The report surveyed 150 global hedge fund managers and addressed topics including: the outlook on AIFMD as a regulatory framework and its impact; concerns about AIFMD; preparations for compliance; and plans for marketing in the EU. Although, according to the report, uncertainty about AIFMD is high, nearly 58% of Europe-based managers are already compliant with AIFMD

On July 16, 2014, the European Council convened a meeting in Brussels and announced a number of measures against Russia for its failure to "actively use its influence over illegally armed groups . . . in order to achieve a rapid de-escalation" of the crisis in Ukraine. The meeting did not result in any immediate designations, but it did produce a commitment to expand restrictive measures against entities deemed responsible for the instability in Ukraine. The Council is now tasked with adopting "the necessary legal instruments and [deciding] by the end of July on a first list of entities and

FINRA-proposed immediately effective amendments regarding FINRA Rule 7710 relating to fees for the OTC Reporting Facility ("ORF"), as well as the deletion of Rule 7740 relating to historical research and administrative reports, were published in the Federal Register. These amendments concern the migration of the ORF to FINRA's Multi-Product Platform ("MPP"). Prior to migration to the MPP, FINRA's Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, Alternative Display Facility, and ORF operated on separate technology platforms. The ORF will migrate to the MPP on September 15, 2014, therefore necessitating