In This Issue:

- FINRA Releases 2015 Regulatory and Exam Priorities Letter: Structured Products Remain an Area of Focus

- OCIE Exam Priorities: 2015

- In Re: TVIX Securities Litigation

- Second Circuit Affirms Lower Court Decision

- ESMA’s MiFID II Technical Advice and Consultation Paper

- OCC Updates Retail Non

- Deposit Investment Produ ct Guidance in Comptroller’s Handbook

- TLAC and Structured Notes

- Excerpt from FINRA Releases 2015 Regulatory and Exam Priorities Letter: Structured Products Remain an Area of Focus:

On January 6, 2015, FINRA issued its annual regulatory and examination priorities letter. (http://www.finra.org/web/groups/industry/@ip/@reg/@guide/documents/industry/p602239.pdf).

As in the past few years, structured products will remain an area of FINRA focus in 2015. Many of the points raised by the letter are consistent with FINRA’s prior guidance to broker-dealers. The letter points out that issues related to product and service offerings generally include “product complexity, opacity in the market for a product or its underlying components, insufficient or generic disclosure, enticing teaser rate fee structures and insufficient training for salespersons to understand the products.” FINRA requests firms to “continue to conduct rigorous new product reviews, assess reasonable-basis and customer-specific suitability prior to offerings and permit wealth management to make independent decisions about the products and services that are best for their customers.”