Equities and options markets' self-regulatory organizations ("SROs") came to a general agreement with the SEC on certain recommendations and preliminary implementation timetables regarding the ongoing development of collective plans to strengthen the resilience, performance, disaster recovery capability and governance of the critical infrastructure of the U.S. capital markets. SROs such as FINRA, BATS Global Markets, NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ, MIAX Options, the International Securities Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and others have been working collaboratively to develop critical

The SEC announced a deferred prosecution agreement ("DPA") with an individual: former hedge fund administrator, Scott Herckis, who helped the agency take action against a hedge fund manager who stole investor assets. According to the SEC press release, DPAs encourage individuals and companies to provide the SEC with information about misconduct, and subsequently assist with an investigation. In return, the SEC refrains from prosecuting cooperators for their own violations if they comply with certain undertakings. Scott Herckis, an administrator for Heppelwhite Fund LP, is the first individual

The MSRB has released municipal market statistics for the third quarter of 2013, including data on trading patterns, interest rate resets, and continuing disclosure submissions made to the MSRB for the municipal bond market. The third quarter 2013 highlights include the following: the number of trades in the municipal market in the third quarter of 2013 increased 23 percent compared to the number of trades in the third quarter of 2012; the number of variable rate demand obligations rate resets declined to 171,552, the lowest number of rate resets in a quarter since the MSRB began collecting

FINRA released an improved version of BrokerCheck. The improvements include a more user-friendly interface that presents search results in a graphic timeline, and new search capabilities that allow investors to search both the BrokerCheck and Investment Adviser Public Disclosure ("IAPD") record of any securities professional or firm directly. Additionally, FINRA announced that the BrokerCheck widget will be made available to third-party websites, allowing visitors to those websites direct access to securities professionals or firms' BrokerCheck or IAPD reports. See: FINRA News Release.

FINRA has announced that fees for securities transactions on exchanges in the over-the-counter market will remain at $17.40 per million dollars until 60 days after the regular appropriation for the SEC is enacted. Under the continuing resolution, the SEC regular appropriation will continue until January 15, 2014. See: FINRA Information Notice; FINRA Press Release. Related News: SEC Releases Second Fee Rate Advisory for FY 2014 (October 31, 2013).