The SEC published a notice soliciting comments regarding proposed amendments to: FINRA Rule 8312 (FINRA BrokerCheck Disclosure) to (i) include in BrokerCheck information about members and their association persons of any registered national securities exchange that uses the Central Registration Depository ("CRD") for registration purposes, and (ii) expand the categories of civil judicial disclosures that are permanently available in BrokerCheck. We previously reported these rule filings on November 1and November 4. See: SEC Release Nos. 34-70876 and 34-70880.

The GAO released the first of a two-part report examining the various aspects of government support in bank holding companies since the financial crisis. This report focused on the progress that the government has made (limited progress) towards preventing itself from providing special help to banks in the event of another financial or liquidity crisis. In this report, the GAO examines (i) actual government support for banks and bank holding companies during the financial crisis, and (ii) recent statutory and regulatory changes related to government support for banks and bank holding companies

CME Group, Futures Industry Association ("FIA"), and The Institute for Financial Markets, and National Futures Association ("NFA") announced the release of a study on the economic feasibility of adopting an insurance regime for the U.S. futures industry. The study was conducted by Compass Lexecon, a consulting firm, by examining four models for providing customer asset protection insurance ("CAPI") for losses arising from the failures of futures commission merchants ("FCMs"). The study involved developing quantitative estimates for the potential costs of two models in particular, based on

FINRA issued a regulatory notice regarding the SEC-approved amendments to the Discovery Guide used in customer arbitration proceedings. The amended guide provides assistance for arbitrators on resolving electronic discovery disputes ("e-disputes") relating to the form for producing electronic documents. The guide explains how product cases are different from other customer cases and describes the types of documents that parties typically request in product cases. Additionally, it clarifies the circumstances under which a party may request an affirmation when an opposing party does not produce

The CFTC's proposed rules for aggregating accounts, for the purposes of calculating compliance with the position limits, appeared in the Federal Register. The proposed rules modify CFTC Rule 150.4 ("Aggregation of Positions") and certain related regulations to specify which accounts and positions a person must aggregate for purposes of position limit compliance. The proposals, and our comments on them, are set out in the earlier news items linked below. Comments must be received by the CFTC on or before January 14, 2014. See: 78 FR 68946. Related News: Streetwise Professor Craig Pirrong on