SEC Litigation Release No. 21956 May 4, 2011 The SEC announced the filing a settled civil action against a broker-dealer for its alleged rigging of municipal bond reinvestment transactions. The SEC action alleged that the broker-dealer, among other things, facilitated improper payments to other bidding agents in connection with the competitive bidding process for the temporary investment of municipal bond offering proceeds. The settlement was entered into in concert with the Department of Justice, the IRS, and a number of state attorneys general. Cross References Exchange Act § 15(c) SEC Press

CFTC Meetings 76 Fed. Reg. 25309 May 4, 2011 The CFTC's Agricultural Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting on May 19, 2011 to discuss issues related to the Dodd-Frank Act. Cross References Dodd-Frank Act, Title VII

CFTC May 4, 2011 Commissioner Scott D. O'Malia, the chairman of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), announces that the Commission has voted to establish a Subcommittee on Data Standardization to develop recommendations regarding a standardized reference data depository representing the universe of legal and financial terms utilized in describing, defining, and valuing the various derivatives and other financial instruments which are presently and in the future may be traded on and off of regulated exchanges. The subcommittee will be chaired by Andrei Kirilenko, Chief Economist, and will

SEC Release No. 34-64369; SR-FINRA-2011-021 April 29, 2011 The SEC declared immediately effective a FINRA proposal to delay until October 3, 2011, the implementation date of amendments to FINRA Rules 7410 and 7470 that expand the recording and reporting requirements of OATS to all NMS stocks. The rules had previously been scheduled to become effective on July 11, 2011. Cross References FINRA Rules 7410, 7470 SEC Release No. 34-63311 (approving rule changes) FINRA RN 11-03 (announcing previous effective date)

European Union April 29, 2011 The European Commission has opened two antitrust investigations concerning the Credit Default Swaps market. In the first case, the Commission will examine whether 16 investment banks and Markit, the leading provider of financial information in the CDS market, have colluded and/or may hold and abuse a dominant position in order to control the financial information on CDS. If proven such behaviour would be a violation of EU antitrust rules. In the second case, the Commission opened proceedings against 9 of the banks and ICE Clear Europe, the leading clearing house