The CFTC published the following comparability determinations for various foreign countries in the Federal Register: Comparability Determination for Hong Kong: Certain Entity-Level Requirements ( 78 FR 78852) Comparability Determination for Australia: Certain Entity-Level Requirements ( 78 FR 78864) Comparability Determination for Japan: Certain Entity-Level Requirements ( 78 FR 78910) Comparability Determination for Japan: Certain Transaction-Level Requirements ( 78 FR 78890) Comparability Determination for Canada: Certain Entity-Level Requirements ( 78 FR 78839) Comparability Determination

The CFTC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS") signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") regarding cooperation and the exchange of information in the supervision and oversight of regulated entities that operate on a cross-border basis in the United States and Singapore. According to the CFTC, the MOU states the willingness of the CFTC and the MAS to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates regarding derivatives markets. The scope of the MOU includes markets and organized trading platforms, central counterparties, trade

The CFTC granted Singapore Exchange Derivatives Clearing Limited ("SGX-DC") registration as a derivatives clearing organization, pursuant to CEA Section 5b ("Derivatives Clearing Organizations"). SGX-DC, a subsidiary of Singapore Exchange Limited, is organized under the laws of Singapore and is regulated in Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Order, SGX-DC is authorized to provide clearing services for swaps that SGX-DC currently clears and such other swaps that the CFTC determines SGX-DC is eligible to clear. See: CFTC Order of

The SEC announced a sanction against a brokerage firm that repeatedly ignored red flags which resulted in approving more than $400,000 in soft dollar expenses that an investment advisor did not properly disclose to clients. The SEC explains that "soft dollars are credits or rebates from a brokerage firm on commissions that clients pay for trades executed in an investment adviser's client accounts. If appropriately disclosed, an investment adviser may use the soft dollar credits to pay for such expenses as brokerage and research services that benefit clients." The SEC found that the brokerage

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association, SIFMA, the Structured Finance Industry Group, the American Bankers Association, and the Financial Services Roundtable (together, the "Trade Associations") sent a letter to federal regulators requesting that they clarify how certain provisions of the recently issued "Volcker Rule" regulations would apply to debt securities of collateralized loan obligation ("CLO") issuers. In particular, with respect to CLO issuers that are considered "covered funds," the Trade Associations requested that the regulators clarify that holding debt securities issued