MFA announced in its blog that reports have recently circulated indicating that EU Member State Ambassadors (COREPER II) are nearing a General Approach on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MiFID") and Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation ("MiFIR"). The linked memo from the MFA indicates where MFA believes EU regulators are in the process of developing a common regulatory approach . Click here to learn more (links externally to MFA website).

F INRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to adopt the consolidated FINRA supervision rules. Specifically, the proposed rule change would: (1) adopt FINRA Rules 3110 (Supervision) and 3120 (Supervisory Control System) to largely replace NASD Rules 3010 (Supervision) and 3012 (Supervisory Control System), respectively; (2) incorporate into FINRA Rule 3110 and its supplementary material the requirements of NASD IM-1000-4 (Branch Offices and Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction), NASD IM-3010-1 (Standards for Reasonable Review), Incorporated NYSE Rule 401A (Customer Complaints), and

Chairman Gary Gensler released a paper, previously published in a French financial journal in April, that focuses on cross-border regulation of the swaps market. According to his paper, as the financial system failed in 2008, the swaps market, which was basically not regulated in the United States, Europe, Canada or Asia, failed to meet their objectives, causing a great financial crisis. Chairman Gensler's paper is divided into the following areas of focus: New International Consensus to Reform the Swaps Market Transparency - Lowering Cost and Increasing Liquidity, Efficiency, and Competition

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton gave a speech to the Institute of International Bankers ("IIB") using popular movies to illustrate the benefits of government regulation in industries such as food, energy and pharmaceutical. However, Commissioner Chilton also acknowledged that government regulations are sometimes overbroad and unnecessary. He concluded by discussing how, as in life, regulations require a balance approached. To that end, he asserted the virtues of the Volcker Rule and the Cross-Border Guidance and how both proposals strike the proper balanced approach to regulation. Lofchie

SIFMA released a statement from president Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., after a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1256, the Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act. The legislation seeks to address cross-border application of derivatives regulation under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act by requiring coordination in rulemaking between the CFTC and the SEC. Legislation: H.R. 1256, the Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act. See: Press Release.