SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar called for greater racial diversity and more women at both the SEC and in senior corporate ranks, including the boards of corporations. View speech in full here (links externally to SEC website).

The SEC announced charges against a Houston-based hedge fund manager and his firm accused of defrauding investors in two hedge funds and steering bloated fees to a brokerage firm CEO who was also charged. According to the Order, George R. Jarkesy Jr., and his firm, John Thomas Capital Management (since renamed Patriot28 LLC), allegedly inflated valuations of the funds' assets, causing the value of investors' shares to be overstated, and the managers' fees to be increased. Further, according to the SEC, Jarkesy violated his fiduciary duties to the funds in multiple instances by providing

The House Agriculture Committee approved seven legislative proposals amending Dodd-Frank Title VII. All but one of the bills advanced on a voice vote; the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act (H.R. 992) was approved by a vote of 31-14. H.R. 634, the Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act, allows end users to use derivatives for hedging without being subject to margin requirements. H.R. 677, the Inter-Affiliate Swap Clarification Act, provides that certain transactions between affiliates within a single corporate group are not regulated as swaps, subject to a variety of conditions

The OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve released an updated supervisory guidance on leveraged lending, which has been increasing since 2009 after declining during the financial crisis. The guidance from the agencies covers transactions characterized by a borrower with a degree of financial leverage that significantly exceeds industry norms. The guidance replaces the previous guidance issued in April 2001. This guidance applies to financial institutions supervised by the agencies that engage in leveraged lending activities. The number of community banks with substantial involvement in leveraged

The SEC granted an exemption from Rule 102(a) of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to TriLinc Global Impact Fund, LLC (the "Company"), permitting the Company to initiate a unit repurchase program with investors. The Company limited the number of units it could repurchase in a calendar year and disclosed the details of the repurchase program in its prospectus. However, the SEC granted the exemption subject to the following conditions: the Company must terminate the repurchase program if, during the distribution of its units, a secondary market for the units develops, and