The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued a standard no-action letter to Fifth Third Bancorp ("Bancorp") providing relief from being considered an "ineligible issuer" under Securities Rule 405(l)(vi) ("Definitions of Terms"). See: SEC Letter in the Matter of Fifth Third Bancorp.

The SEC announced that it has named Sebastian Gomez Abero as Chief of the Office of Small Business Policy. Mr. Gomez previously was a special counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance's Office of Chief Counsel, where he helped to draft proposed rules to implement the crowdfunding provisions of the JOBS Act. The appointment is effective immediately. See : SEC Press Release.

FINRA has announced charges against a firm for charging unfair prices in municipal securities transactions and for failing to have an adequate supervisory system. FINRA found that Oppenheimer Co ("Oppenheimer") and its head municipal securities trader had priced 89 customer transactions at 5.01 to 15.57 percent above the firm's "contemporaneous" cost. FINRA also found that David Sirianni, the head trader of Oppenheimer's municipal securities, purchased municipal securities from a broker-dealer on Oppenheimer's behalf, held the bonds in inventory for at least one night, and then made the bonds

The CFTC is requesting public comment on a certification from Bloomberg SEF LLC ("Bloomberg") to implement available-to-trade determinations for certain interest rate and credit default swap contracts. Bloomberg submitted available-to-trade determinations to the CFTC on a self-certified basis, pursuant to CFTC Rule 37.10 ("Process for a swap execution facility to make a swap available to trade") and Rule 40.6 ("Self-certification of rules"). If Bloomberg's submission is deemed certified by operation of CFTC Rule 40.6, such swap contracts, whether listed or offered by Bloomberg or any other DCM

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler delivered remarks before the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") in which he discussed the ways that securities markets and banking laws have been reformed through Dodd-Frank. Chairman Gensler listed the major areas that have seen reform, including: ensuring that the largest financial institutions have the freedom to fail, stating that he was pleased with Moody's recent removal of the uplift in credit ratings of the largest bank holding companies "that had come from perceived government support"; tougher capital and liquidity standards, and annual stress