76 FR 48937 August 9, 2011 The SEC declared immediately effective a FINRA proposal to change its rules regarding trade reporting of certain transactions in OTC equities. The amendments make two changes: (1) clarify the scope of an exception for securities that are part of a secondary distribution by tying the term "distribution" to its definition in Rule 100 of Regulation M and providing guidance on what an "unregistered secondary distribution is"; and (2) exclude from trade reporting requirements transfers of equities for the purpose of creating ADRs and ETFs. Cross References SR-FINRA-2011

Wall Street Journal August 9, 2011 The CFTC approved a plan to allow wider price swings in the futures market for U.S. corn, ruling the Chicago Board of Trade can let corn futures rise or fall by as much as 40 cents a bushel on a given day, up from the current limit of 30 cents. CME Group, which owns the grain exchange, requested the increase following a sharp rise in corn prices over the last year. The surge in futures has caused trading to halt frequently as prices bump against the limit. The exchange faced opposition from livestock producers, farmers and food companies, who warned the

FINRA RN 11-38 August 8, 2011 FINRA published a notice providing guidance to firms on the effect of the downgrade of the United States long-term credit rating under the SEC Net Capital and Customer Protection rules. Generally, there is no change in firms' responsibilities under the rules after the ratings change. Under the Net Capital Rule, FINRA and the SEC affirmed that there is no change in the capital treatment of government securities under Rule 15c3-1(c)(2)(vi)(A). In addition, the notice confirms that the ratings downgrade has no effect on the definition of "qualified security" under

Open Meeting on Three Final Rule Proposals under the Dodd-Frank Act Agricultural Swaps This is the pre-Federal Register Release version. It repeals existing Part 35 in its entirety, replacing it with a new heading: Swaps in an Agricultural Commodity (Agricultural Swaps) and creates a new Rule 35.1 Agricultural Swaps, generally. Cross References Dodd-Frank Act, Title VII, Secs. 723(c)(3) and 733; new CEA Sec. 5h(b)(2); 17 CFR Part 35.

SEC Release No. 34-64969, 74 FR 23912 (SR-FINRA-2009-028) July 26, 2011 The SEC published for comment an amendment to a FINRA proposal to adopt new FINRA Rule 2231 (Customer Account Statements). The proposed rule is substantially similar to current NASD Rule 2340 and incorporates most of former NYSE Rule 409, each subject to certain significant changes. (Note: Former NASD Rule 2320 and NYSE Rule 409(f) were previously incorporated as FINRA Rule 2232.) The rule generally would require broker-dealers to send a monthly account statement to each customer whose account had activity since its last