On Monday, April 28, 2014, the United States expanded its Ukraine-related sanctions program, designating an additional seven Russian individuals and seventeen entities. ( See Updated List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.) Notably, the list included Igor Sechin, the President and Chairman of Russia's leading oil company, Rosneft. The list did not include Rosneft itself and, to preclude any questions about the effect of Sechin's designation, the Treasury Department's press release announcing the new sanctions included a statement confirming that Rosneft "has not been

The Asset Management Group of SIFMA ("SIFMA AMG") issued a statement regarding the CFTC no-action relief for asset managers from oral recordkeeping requirements in connection with swaps transactions, commending the CFTC for extending the relief. Additionally, SIFMA AMG stated that it continues to believe that CFTC Rule 1.35(a) should not be applicable to asset managers that access SEFs to execute swaps. SIFMA AMG noted that, while its members will use the extension of the relief to prepare for compliance with the oral recording requirements, it hopes that the CFTC will continue to assess SIFMA

The CFTC obtained a federal court Consent Order against Tunney Associates, P.C. ("T&A"), an accounting firm, and its sole owner, requiring T&A and its owner to pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty for violating CFTC Rules when conducting audits for a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant ("FCM"). The Order stems from a CFTC complaint filed April 18, 2013, that charged T&A and its owner with conducting year-end audits for the FCM that did not follow Generally Accepted Auditing Standards or CFTC Rules, and for failing to report material inadequacies to the CFTC when required to do so. The

Linked below is an article featured in the Energy Metro Desk series, "Around the Desk," which provides a summary of recent market news. The article discusses, among other things, a presentation by Deputy Director of the CFTC Division of Market Oversight ("DMO"), Matthew Hunter. Mr. Hunter's presentation was notable for its unequivocal claim that DMO is capable of catching those who violate the law, in spite of the CFTC's shortcomings in its data management and market monitoring efforts. Click here to view the article. The above link is an excerpt from the most recent issue of Energy Metro Desk

In January 2014, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("ANPR") soliciting comments on various issues related to physical commodity activities conducted by financial holding companies, including the risks that such activities pose to the safety and soundness of depository institutions and the financial system generally. The activities covered by the ANPR included physical commodities activities that have been found to be "complementary to a financial activity" under section 4(k)(1)(B) of the Bank Holding Company Act ("BHC