The Division of Market Oversight ("DMO") of the CFTC issued an Advisory to reportable market participants reminding them of their legal obligation to submit weekly Form 304 reports for call cotton in a timely manner as required under CFTC Rule 19.02 ("Reports pertaining to cotton call purchases and sales"). DMO also took a no-action position with respect to allowing Form 304 reports to be submitted to a newly created email account ( Form304@cftc.gov), in lieu of submission by fax or telephone and mail. See: CFTC Letter 13-14 (links externally to CFTC website).

The CFTC's Division of Market Oversight issued an advisory to reporting markets subject to CFTC Part 16 Rules that provides guidance as to how block trade volume data should be reported, pursuant to Rule 16.01 ("Trading volume, open contracts, prices, and critical dates") while the CFTC transitions to an enhanced data reporting standard. See: CFTC Letter 13-15 (links externally to CFTC website).

In the attached amicus brief, SIFMA addressed whether, in order to establish a claim of fraudulent inducement to insure risky mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), an insurer must establish a direct causal link between the alleged misrepresentations made by the counterparty and the specific claims made under the insurance policy. Click here to view amicus in full (links externally to SIFMA website).

The House Financial Services Committee passed bipartisan bills to amend the derivatives provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act, to require cost-benefit analyses to be done at the SEC, and to require faster implementation of the JOBS Act. The following is a summary of the legislation that the committee passed today including the vote count. H.R. 634 (59-0): The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2013 introduced by Reps. Michael Grimm (R-NY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Austin Scott (R-GA) and Mike McIntyre (D-NY), would exempt end users from the margin and capital requirements of Dodd

The North American Securities Administrators Association filed an amicus brief supporting FINRA's efforts to overturn a decision by a FINRA hearing panel that allowed Charles Schwab Company to prevent its customers from participating in class-action lawsuits. Similar briefs were filed by the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association ("PIABA"), and, jointly, by AARP, the National Consumer Law Center and Public Justice in support of FINRA's efforts. Separately, on May 3, 2013, NASAA wrote to SEC Chair Mary Jo White urging her to use the authority granted to the agency in Section 921 of the