In this issue:

- New Law Aligns Clearing and Margin Exceptions for Swaps

- CFTC Staff Extends No-Action Relief to Certain Reporting Counterparties Masking Identifying Information Pursuant to Non-US Law

- SEC 2015 Examination Priorities Focus on Liquid Alternatives and Fixed-Income Funds

- Delaware Court Rules That Beneficial Stockholder May Seek Appraisal in Its Own Name

- Government Seeks Extended Prison Term in Securities Fraud Case

- ESMA Recommends to the European Commission That All MiFID Firms Have a Full-Time Compliance Function

- ESMA Publishes First Annual Review of CCP Colleges Under EMIR

- ESMA Announces Open Hearing on MiFID II and MiFIR

- Excerpt from New Law Aligns Clearing and Margin Exceptions for Swaps:

On January 13, President Obama signed legislation that aligns the rules relating to swap clearing and mandatory margin for uncleared swaps so that any entity that qualifies for an exemption from clearing its swaps also is exempt from any rules requiring mandatory margin for the resulting over-the-counter transaction. The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2015, which was embedded as Title III of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015, amends both the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to achieve this result for both swaps and security-based swaps.