The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") has submitted comments in response to the CFTC's Concept Release on Risk Controls and System Safeguards for Automated Trading Environments. The response described the risk controls and system safeguards that are currently used in the futures industry, and outlined several principles that the CFTC should take into account as it considers establishing regulations with regard to those controls and safeguards. The letter also contained responses to specific questions posted by the CFTC in its concept release. Click here to see a discussion of the FIA

Regulatory agencies, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB"), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), the Federal Housing Finance Authority, the National Credit Unit Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), issued a final rule that creates exemptions from certain appraisal requirements for a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, closed-end mortgage loans are considered to be higher priced if they are secured by a consumer's home and have

The CFTC has published proposed rules regarding speculative position limits in the Federal Register. The proposed rules are intended to establish position limits for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and option contracts, and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. The CFTC also proposed to update some relevant definitions, revise exemptions for speculative position limits, and update reporting requirements. In addition, the CFTC proposed to update certain rules, guidance and acceptable practices for compliance with Designated Contract Market (

SIFMA submitted comments to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on tax modernization. In the letter linked below, SIFMA stated that it supports the recommendations of both the New York State Tax Relief Commission and the New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission to eliminate the Stock Transfer Tax and merge the Bank Tax (Article 32) into the Corporate Franchise Tax (Article 9-A). See : SIFMA Letter. See also : New York State Tax Relief Commission Final Report (December 10, 2013); New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission Final Report (November 11, 2013).

A report released by the GAO determined that the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB"), in coordination with the regulatory agencies, may not be consistently determining which rules are considered "major rules" under the Congressional Review Act ("CRA"), which was put in place to allow Congress to review major rules before they became effective. The GAO recommends, as it first did in 2011, that the OMB issue guidance to help standardize CRA processes. The GAO found that some independent agencies submitted all of their rules to the OMB while others did not, and that inconsistencies remain in