FINRA has filed an amendment to a previously proposed rule change that will consolidate certain NASD and NYSE supervision rules into FINRA supervision rules. FINRA had received a number of comments on the original proposal, including 555 copies of a form letter. The SEC published a notice to solicit comments on the supervisory proposal, as amended in light of the various comments. The original rule amendment was issued in June of 2013 (see description in the item linked below). In the revised proposal (see pages 4-9), FINRA modified a number of the proposed requirements that commenters argued

FINRA released a podcast summarizing the latest FINRA notices, news, and compliance resources for September 2013. The latest FINRA notices discussed in the podcast include FINRA's recent request for comments on a revised proposal membership about application proceedings, which would transfer current NASD membership proceeding rules into the FINRA rulebook. The podcast also summarized recently released compliance resources from FINRA, including two new videos and a live video webinar and suitability program discussing methods for complying with the suitability rule. The podcast concluded with a

The SEC announced the appointment of Karen L. Martinez as director of the Salt Lake Regional Office. Previously, Ms. Martinez was the assistant director and supervised the enforcement program in the office. In her new role, Ms. Martinez will oversee both enforcement and examinations. See: SEC Press Release.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke at the Fordham Law School 14th Annual A.A. Sommer, Jr. Corporate Securities and Financial Law Lecture, focusing on the importance of the SEC remaining nonpartisan. Chair White said her speech was a tribute to Al Sommer, and his staunch belief that politics has no place in the SEC hallways. She noted that Mr. Sommer spearheaded the SEC's groundbreaking rules to "unfix" brokerage commissioners and establish a national securities market system. Chair White stated that it is vital for the SEC and its employees to have the freedom to do what is right for investors and

SIFMA provided comments to the IRS on final regulations for cost basis reporting by securities brokers and basis determination for debt instruments and options. The primary request in the letter was to allow brokers to delay implementation, given the complexity of the new reporting requirements and all of the other new legal requirements imposed on financial institutions. See: SIFMA Comment Letter; SIFMA Press Release.