The SEC charged a wealth management company and a former fund manager with insider trading on non-public information about technology companies. The SEC indicated that the improper trading was discovered as part of its investigation of expert networks. See: Complaint; Press Release.

CFTC Commissioner Scott D. O'Malia delivered a statement seeking an extension of the existing exemptive relief from the cross-border application of its Dodd-Frank rules. Commissioner O'Malia asserted that the CFTC should not be forced into implementing a "take-it-or-leave-it" solution tied to an arbitrary deadline. In his statement, O'Malia discussed three options: a take-it option (finalize the guidance); a leave-it option (do nothing and let the relief expire); or an extension of the relief. According to Commissioner O'Malia, extending the relief is the most sensible option as it would serve

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler delivered the keynote address at the Sandler O'Neill Conference on the application of recently enacted or pending cross-border swaps market reforms. In his speech, Mr. Gensler stated that Dodd-Frank swaps regulation had provided benefits to the U.S. financial system, but absent further cross-border swaps market reforms, Dodd-Frank would be undermined. Mr. Gensler's recommendations included that: Dodd-Frank requirements must cover swaps between non-U.S. swap dealers and guaranteed affiliates of U.S. persons; The Definition of a U.S. person in the final guidance must

NFA's Board of Directors met on May 16 and approved a budget of $74 million for the coming fiscal year. This 18 percent increase in NFA's budget for Fiscal Year 2014 is a consequence of the substantial expansion of NFA's regulatory duties. One specific reason for the significant rise in spending is due to the registration and monitoring of new swap dealer ("SD") and major swap participant ("MSP") Members. NFA is currently hiring and training additional staff to manage these oversight efforts. NFA is in the second year of a ramp-up of its swaps regulatory program. There currently are 80

The Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee held a hearing examining the role of proxy advisory firms in corporate governance. According to the attached Committee Memorandum, the hearing is intended to examine: the growing importance of proxy advisory firms in proxy solicitations and corporate governance, including the effect that proxy advisory firms have on corporate governance standards for public companies, the voting policies that proxy advisory firms have adopted, the market power of proxy advisory firms in an industry effectively controlled by two firms, and