New SRO rules and rule proposals have been announced by the SEC. Click on the links to view the SEC's notices of each rule change and proposal. BATS: Effective Immediately - Amend BATS Rules in Connection with the Elimination of Discretionary Orders for BATS Options (See also: Exhibit 5) BOX: Proposed Rule - Change to List and Trade Option Contracts Overlying 1,000 Shares of the SPDR S&P 500 Exchange-Traded Fund (See also: Exhibit 5) C2: Effective Immediately - Rule Change Relating to Amending the Fees Schedule ICEEU: Notice of Withdrawal of Proposed Rule Change to Clear Western European

The OCC announced that Martin Pfinsgraff would become acting Senior Deputy Comptroller for Large Bank Supervision, succeeding Michael L. Brosnan. Click here to view Press Release in full (links externally to OCC website).

Chairman Hensarling announced that the Financial Services Committee will hold a series of hearings throughout the year that focus on the financially troubled Federal Housing Administration ("FHA"), its "outsized role" in the nation's housing finance system, and the need to create a sustainable mortgage finance system. The announcement states that the FHA's single-family insurance fund has a negative economic value of $16.3 billion according to a November actuarial report. The committee's first two FHA hearings are set to take place in February: On Feb. 6 at 9:00 a.m., the committee will hear

The NFA had recently amended NFA Financial Requirements Section 4 to require FCMs that hold customer segregated funds under CFTC Regulation 1.20, customer secured amount funds under CFTC Regulation 30.7 or cleared swaps customer collateral under CFTC Regulation 22.2 (collectively, "customer segregated funds") to, in turn, instruct the depositories holding these funds on behalf of the FCMs to report the balances in these accounts on a daily basis to a third party designated by the NFA. These rule amendments are being implemented in phases. The attached notice warns FCMS that the first phase

The SEC charged five former real estate executives who defrauded investors into believing they were funding the development of five-star destination resorts in Florida and Las Vegas when they were actually buying into a Ponzi scheme. The SEC alleges that Cay Clubs Resorts and Marinas raised more than $300 million from nearly 1,400 investors nationwide through a network of hundreds of sales agents, marketing seminars, and podcasts touting the profitability of purchasing units at Cay Clubs resort locations. Instead of using investor funds to develop resort properties and units, executives used