The CFTC's DMO issued a time-limited no-action letter providing temporary no-action relief to entities that have been operating pre-Dodd-Frank trading platforms. The no-action letter allows a swap trading facility to continue operating as it currently does until October 2nd, which is the date on which the CFTC's new SEF rules are scheduled to become effective. See: CFTC Letter 13-28.See also prior letter replaced by this letter: CFTC Letter 12-48.

The MSRB filed several amendments with the SEC for proposed rule changes to Rule G-8 ("Books and Records to Be Made by Brokers, Dealers and Municipal Securities Dealers"), G-11 ("Primary Offering Practices"), and G-32 ("Disclosures in Connection with Primary Offerings"). The proposed revisions will help address concerns that new issues of municipal bonds are not being distributed among different types of retail investors according to the preferences of the state or local government issuing the bonds. Examples of the proposed changes include: Rule G-11: Adds several new definitions because of

Linked below is an article entitled "Exchange Rising," which originally appeared in the Energy Metro Desk. This article discusses the recent trend of intermediaries to register as DCMs rather than SEFs due to the costs and legal complexities of the CFTC's new SEF rules. Lofchie Comment: The fundamental argument made in the article is that the CFTC has so overregulated "swap execution facilities" that it is simply not worthwhile to register an entity in that category. This is another replay of "futurization"; i.e., the CFTC's new regulation of swaps is so onerous that the market does everything

Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member, Orrin Hatch, endorsed the Obama Administration's formal launch of negotiations between the United States and the European Union on a Transatlantic Free Trade Partnership. However, Senator Hatch also cautioned that, unless these negotiations are actually concluded and enacted into law, they will not have a meaningful economic impact. Click here to view Senator Hatch's statement in full (links externally to Senate Finance Committee website).

On June 13, 2013, the House Appropriations Committee issued a draft report on the FY 2014 Agriculture Bill, which included appropriations for the CFTC. The Committee's report (1) expressed concerns about the CFTC's regulation, which it described as "duplicative," "overreaching" and "resource intensive"; (2) directed the CFTC to submit cost-benefit studies of such regulations to the Committees of jurisdiction; (3) questioned the CFTC's emphasis on hiring staff rather than improving technology systems to provide the agency with a more efficient way to do business; (4) directed the CFTC to submit