According to a recent blog post by the Managed Funds Association ("MFA") that cites an article in Pensions Investments, a number of Canadian pension plans and the crown corporations that manage the plans' assets are opening foreign offices to boost their alternative investments outside their home country. As reported in the MFA blog post, the Pensions Investments article notes that several pension plans with billions of dollars in assets have established, or are in the process of establishing, offices in New York, London, Washington, Mexico City, São Paulo, Hong Kong and Singapore. See: MFA

FINRA filed with the SEC proposed amendments to Rule 9120, including to the definition of "Hearing Officer." This proposal was published in the Federal Register. The FINRA proposal would amend the definition of "Hearing Officer" to include a former employee of FINRA who is a licensed attorney and who is appointed by the Chief Hearing Officer. Additionally, the proposed rule would allow the Chief Hearing Officer to appoint a former employee of FINRA, who acted previously as a Hearing Officer, to act in an adjudicative role and fulfill the various adjudicative responsibilities and duties of a

FINRA released an information notice stating that it is revising the process for candidates with limited English proficiency ("LEP") who seek additional time to complete either a qualification examination or a Regulatory Element Continuing Education session ("CE session"). Starting on September 8, 2014, individuals must submit electronically through the Central Registration Depository ("CRD") all requests for candidates with LEP to receive additional time on qualification examinations or CE sessions. FINRA stated that it will no longer accept hard copies of LEP request forms from firms that

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") published a final rule in the Federal Register that raises assessments on national banks and federal savings associations ("FSAs") with total assets over $40 billion. Under the rule, the marginal assessment rate for affected national banks and FSAs will increase by 14.5 percent beginning on September 30, 2014. The increase in assessments will range from 0.32 percent to 14 percent, depending on the total assets of the institution, as reflected on its June 30, 2014 Consolidated Report of Condition and Income. The average increase in

SIFMA submitted comments to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") regarding proposed Regulation XX, which involves concentration limits on large financial companies. Regulation XX will implement Section 14 of the Bank Holding Company Act, which was added by Section 622 of Dodd-Frank. Section 14 provides that a financial company may not engage in a "covered acquisition" of another financial company if the total liabilities of the acquiring company would, following the acquisition, exceed 10% of the aggregate liabilities of all financial companies. The FRB's proposed rule