The SEC announced the panelists who will participate in its April 16 roundtable on ways to improve the transparency and efficiency of the fixed income markets. View Release in full here (links externally to SEC website). See also: SEC Roundtable on Fixed Income Markets - Agenda.

FINRA Chairman and CEO, Richard Ketchum, delivered prepared remarks to the National Compliance Outreach Program for Broker-Dealers in Washington, D.C. His remarks focused on complex products and the need for firms to have heightened suitability and supervisory systems around these products and on the management by firms with conflicts of interest. In particular, Mr. Ketchum's remarks on complex products focused on structured products, closed-end funds and private placements. Features of structured products that raise concerns include their use of unsecured debt; derivative strategies featuring

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight (" DMO" ) announced the issuance of a no-action letter providing swap counterparties that are not swap dealers or major swap participants (" non-SD/MSP counterparties" ) with certain relief from the reporting requirements of the CFTC's swap data reporting rules. The DMO's no-action letter provides non-SD/MSP counterparties that are not " financial entities," as defined in Section 2(h)(7)(C) of the Commodity Exchange Act (" non-financial swap counterparties" ), with reporting relief under Part 43 (Real Time Public Reporting) and Part 45 (Swap Data

The U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO") released two reports regarding opportunities and actions to reduce "fragmentation," "overlap" and "duplication" in the government (see page 2 of the GAO report for a very nice visual explanation of what these terms mean) and to achieve other financial benefits. In a number of areas, including catfish inspection and geospatial investments, the GAO report identified financial benefits that could result if executive branch agencies or Congress took action. For example, as to catfish, the GAO report found that millions of dollars could be saved by

The CFTC is correcting a final rule published in the Federal Register of September 11, 2012 (77 FR 55904). That rule, 17 CFR 23.505, took effect on November 13, 2012. Subsequently, the CFTC published final rules in the Federal Register of December 13, 2012 (77 FR 74284) that recodified the Commission regulation at 17 CFR 39.6 as a new Commission regulation at 17 CFR 50.50. This correction amends cross-references in 17 CFR 23.505 to conform them with the final rules published on December 13, 2012. Effective Date: April 9, 2013. View Correction in full here (links externally to CFTC website)