The MSRB received approval from the SEC to expand the disclosures required by MSRB G-37 related to contributions made by municipal securities dealers to bond ballot measure campaigns. The new disclosure requirements require more information on, among other items, (i) the timing of dealer contributions, (ii) the value and nature of non-cash contributions, and (iii) the identity of the municipal entity issuing the voter-approved bonds. There are also a number of definitional changes made in the relevant rule. The requirements will become effective on July 1, 2013. The information will be

The MFA released a presentation on the benefits of electronic trading and the recent regulatory actions applicable to electronic trading. The presentation discusses the role of high-frequency trading in the markets and explains the use of algorithmic trading. The presentation also argues the benefits of electronic trading which include the following: reduced transaction costs, increased liquidity, reduced volatility, and decreased bid/ask spreads. Click here to view presentation in full (links externally to MFA website).For a compilation of recent news items on algorithmic and high-frequency

Michael Steinberg, a portfolio manager at New York-based hedge fund advisory firm Sigma Capital Management, has been charged with using inside information to make trades in shares of Dell Inc. and chipmaker Nvidia Corp. that generated about $1.4 million in illegal profits. Earlier this month, Sigma Capital and two affiliated hedge funds agreed to a settlement with the SEC for insider trading charges. See : SEC Complaint and SEC Press Release. Related News : "Hedge Fund Advisory Firm Sigma Capital Management Agrees to Settle Charges of Insider Trading for $14 Million" (March 20, 2013) and "SEC

The CFTC has approved final regulations governing dual and multiple associations of associated persons ("APs") of swap dealers ("SDs"), major swap participants ("MSPs") and other CFTC registrants (e.g., FCMs, IBs, CPOs and CTAs). The regulations provided that each SD, MSP and other CFTC registrant with whom an AP is associated is required to supervise the AP and is jointly and is severally responsible for the activities of the AP with respect to customers common to it and any other SD, MSP or other CFTC registrant. This rule is based on the CFTC's current rule governing APs associated with

The SEC announced that a Chinese businessman and his wife, whose trading accounts were frozen last year as part of an insider trading case, have agreed to settle charges. According to the SEC, the pair loaded up on the securities of Nexen Inc. while in possession of nonpublic information about an impending announcement that the company was being acquired by China-based CNOOC Ltd. The SEC obtained an emergency court order in July 2012 to freeze multiple Hong Kong and Singapore-based trading accounts just days after the Nexen acquisition was announced and suspicious trading in Nexen stock was