The MSRB sought approval of a proposal from the SEC to provide for more rapid public dissemination of trade size information for municipal securities transactions valued between $1 and $5 million through the MSRB Real-Time Transaction Reporting System (RTRS). Currently, transaction information disseminated from RTRS includes the exact par value on all transactions with a par value of $1 million or less but includes an indicator of "1MM+" in place of the exact par value on transactions where the par value is greater than $1 million. The exact par value of such transactions is disseminated from

The CFTC is amending its regulations governing the operations and activities of commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs) in order to have those regulations reflect changes made to the Commodity Exchange Act by the Dodd-Frank Act. Effective Date: [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]. Compliance Date: CPOs and CTAs must comply with these amendments to Part 4 by no later than the most recent effective date of the regulations issued by the Commission to further define the term "swap" in section 1a(49) of the CEA, pursuant to the Dodd

FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change to amend the By-Laws of FINRA Dispute Resolution, Inc. (By-Laws) to clarify that services provided by mediators, when acting in such capacity and not representing parties in mediation, should not cause the individuals to be classified as Industry Members under the By-Laws. View text of proposed rule change here(links externally to FINRA website).

NFA submitted to the CFTC proposed amendments to NFA Bylaw 301 and Registration Rules 401 and 402 regarding swaps activity eligibility and proficiency requirements. In order to track firms and individuals engaged in swaps activities, NFA's Board approved an amendment to Bylaw 301 to require FCMs, IBs, CPOs and CTAs whose activities involve swaps, and the APs of these firms, to be approved as swap firms or swaps-associated persons (every swaps firm would be required to have at least one associated person). NFA has not developed a new proficiency examination specific to swaps in large part

IOSCO released a consultation report which seeks public comments on a series of proposed high-level recommendations intended to improve market surveillance. The report responds to a 2010 G20 mandate, which called for significant policy actions in several areas, including an extensive reform of the financial sector. The G20 called on IOSCO to develop recommendations to promote "market integrity and efficiency" and mitigate the technological risks posed to the financial system, which IOSCO initially published in an October 2011 report. This report presents further recommendations to Market