The SEC has announced its examination priorities for 2014, which cover a wide range of issues at financial institutions, including investment advisers and investment companies, broker-dealers, clearing agencies, exchanges and other self-regulatory organizations, hedge funds, private equity funds, and transfer agents. The 2014 priorities include: wrap fee programs, quantitative trading models, and payments by advisers and funds to entities that distribute mutual funds; issues related to the fixed-income market and trading issues, including compliance with the new market access rule; risk-based

The National Futures Association (the "NFA") CEO Daniel Roth and Chairman of the Board Christopher Hehmeyer published a letter to its members regarding increased compliance initiatives. The NFA stated that the failure of MF Global and Peregrine Financial Group has eroded the trust of regulators and customers and highlighted regulatory deficiencies within the organization. The NFA explained that, in the wake of these crises, it hired an outside research group to gather information and analyze the NFA's audit practices and procedures. The outside group submitted a report to the NFA Board of

The MSRB proposed a standard of conduct rule regarding the duties of advisors when providing advice on municipal securities transactions and related products to their clients. In its statement, the MSRB explained that Dodd-Frank charged the MSRB with developing standards of conduct and qualification for municipal advisors to help safeguard the interests of state and local government that engage in municipal securities. The new draft of Rule G-42 ("Duties of Non-Solicitor Municipal Advisors") elaborates on the fiduciary duties of a municipal advisor towards its municipal entity clients

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted a letter requesting that the CFTC conduct targeted compliance reviews of the rulebooks and user agreements of temporarily registered swap execution facilities ("SEFs"), and enforce the CFTC's SEF rules and related staff guidance before the effective date of the first "made available-to-trade" ("MAT") determination. In requesting such action, the MFA outlined the material issues that MFA members have encountered related to SEF rulebooks, SEF user agreements, and operational and documentation readiness for the SEF trading of bunched orders in

FINRA announced that it ordered two affiliated broker-dealers to pay fines and restitution for the unsuitable sales of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") and related supervisory deficiencies. According to the release, FINRA found that the broker-dealers made unsuitable recommendations for non-traditional ETFs to certain customers between January 2009 and June 2013. Some representatives did not fully understand the unique features and specific risks associated with leveraged and inverse ETFs; however, the firms allowed the representatives to recommend the ETFs to retail