The SEC approved new FINRA Rule 5123 (text of rule included in attached FINRA notice) to require each FINRA member firm that sells an issuer's securities in a private placement, subject to certain exemptions, to file with FINRA a copy of any private placement memorandum, term sheet or other offering document the firm used within 15 calendar days of the date of the sale, or to indicate that it did not use any such offering documents. Firms must file the required offering documents electronically with FINRA through the FINRA Firm Gateway. The rule becomes effective December 3, 2012, and applies

The MFA, in partnership with BNY Mellon and HedgeMark, announced the release of the white paper, "Risk Roadmap: Hedge Funds and Investors' Evolving Approach to Risk." The paper argues that fund managers have become less concerned with preserving the confidentiality of their investment strategies and more concerned with assuring investors that there are place strong measures to control risk (such that managers are willing to become more transparent to investors). The paper urges a variety of methods to improve risk management, including the development of an independent risk management function

Section 4 (Financial Requirements and Treatment of Customer Property): This Notice includes the following: (1) Any Member FCM, RFED, or IB who violates any of CFTC Reg. 1.10, 1.12, 1.16, 1.17, 1.20 through 1.30, 5.6, 5.7 or 30.7 (as applicable) shall be deemed to have violated an NFA Requirement; and (2) any Member FCM that receives money, securities and/or other property from, for or on behalf of a customer to margin, guarantee or secure the customer's positions in cleared OTC derivatives (as defined in CFTC Regulation 190.01(oo)) must comply with the CFTC's requirements and the requirements

The Division of Investment Management stated that it would not recommend enforcement under the Investment Company Act ("'40 Act") against Linn Energy, LLC ("LINN") or Linn Co, LLC ("LinnCo"), if LinnCo operates in the manner described in the letter below without registering with the SEC as an investment company under the '40 Act. LINN is a Delaware limited liability that is an independent oil and natural gas company; LinnCo is a Delaware limited liability company created by LINN. The only purpose of LinnCo is to provide non-U.S. investors with a tax-efficient method of holding shares in Linn

FINRA issued notices to (i) inform the members of small firms of the forthcoming Small Firm Advisory Board election, and (ii) notify firms of the FINRA District Committee's upcoming nominations and elections.