FINRA and national securities exchanges, including the NYSE, NASDAQ, BATS Exchange, Inc., and others (collectively, the "SROs"), began distributing a cost study questionnaire to gather information to assess and manage the anticipated financial impact of the Consolidated Audit Trail ("CAT") reporting requirements on the broker-dealer community. Rule 613 ("Consolidated Audit Trail") of Regulation NMS, adopted by the SEC in July 2012, requires that the SROs submit to the SEC a national market system ("NMS") plan to create, implement, and maintain an audit trail (the CAT) that will allow

The SEC updated its Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations "Questions and Answers of General Applicability". The new additions include Q&As regarding Securities Act Rule 501 ("Definitions and Terms Used in Regulation D"), as well as Rule 506 ("Exemption for Limited Offers and Sales Without Regard to Dollar Amount of Offering"). More specifically, the questions updated or added include 255.48, 255.49, 260.35, 260.36, 260.37, and 260.38. See: SEC Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations: Updated Questions and Answers of General Applicability.

The FINRA proposal amending the definitions of "non-public arbitrator" and "public arbitrator" was published in the Federal Register. The amendments provide that persons who worked in the financial industry for any duration during their careers would always be classified as non-public arbitrators, and persons who represent investors or the financial industry as a significant part of their business would also be classified as non-public arbitrators, but could become public arbitrators after a cooling-off period. Comments on the proposed amendments must be submitted by July 24, 2014. See: 79 FR

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") and FIA Europe submitted its' ninth and final Special Report. The Special Report was part of a series covering specific areas of the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) consultation process for the implementation of the recast MiFID II and MiFIR. The final Special Report provides an overview of the proposals relating to transparency set out in the recently published ESMA Discussion Paper and Consultation Paper. Related news: FIA and FIA Europe Issue Special Report on Third-Country Firms under MiFID II (June 26, 2014); FIA Issues Special

The extension of the comment period for the CFTC's proposed rules on Position Limits for Derivatives and Aggregation of Positions was published in the Federal Register. Comments on the proposals must be submitted by August 4, 2014. The CFTC had previously extended the comment period deadlines for the proposals until July 3, 2014. To provide commenters with sufficient time to respond to questions raised and points made at the June 19, 2014 roundtable on the two rulemakings, the CFTC further extended the comment period.Rather than taking comments on the entire rule making, the CFTC has stated