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Keynote Address — 2019 ICI Securities Law Developments Conference, Dalia Blass, Director, SEC Division Of Investment Management, Washington D.C., Dec. 3, 2019

Date 03/12/2019

Introduction

Good Morning. Thank you Susan [Olson], and thank you all for the opportunity to come back and update you on the Division’s work.

I recently came across a September Compliance Minute Podcast, titled: Where Have you Gone, Dalia Blass? In the podcast, Mr. Todd Cipperman wanted an update on initiatives that I had announced last March, including the exchange-traded funds (ETF) final rule and the proposed updates to the investment adviser advertising and solicitation rules. I enjoyed listening to the podcast because it reminded me of how much work we undertook and also how much we achieved.

Intercontinental Exchange Adds Fixed Income Capabilities To ICE ETF Hub

Date 03/12/2019

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced it has added new functionality to ICE ETF Hub to support US-listed fixed income exchange traded funds (ETFs). Since launching last week, fixed income primary trades for 17 funds, including the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) and the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), have passed through the system.

Cboe Expands MSCI Index Product Suite With New Options Strategy Benchmarks On MSCI EAFE And MSCI Emerging Markets Indices

Date 03/12/2019

• Cboe's benchmark indices are designed to help investors gauge the performance of options-based investment strategies to highlight the use of options to help manage risk, reduce volatility and enhance yield
• The new Cboe-MSCI BuyWrite and PutWrite indices are created for investors looking to replicate the same strategy on global equities

US Federal Regulators Issue Joint Statement On The Use Of Alternative Data In Credit Underwriting

Date 03/12/2019

Five Federal financial regulatory agencies today issued a joint statement on the use of alternative data in underwriting by banks, credit unions, and non-bank financial firms.

Zerion Raises $2M To Fuel Next Phase Of Decentralized Finance - Seed Funding From Placeholder, Blockchain.Com Ventures, And Gnosis Further Validates The DeFi Use Case

Date 03/12/2019

Zerion, the first simple interface to the protocols of decentralized finance (“DeFi”), has raised $2M in seed funding from Placeholder, Blockchain.com Ventures, and Gnosis. The team will use the investment to accelerate development and add support for more DeFi services. Zerion has processed over $47M in transaction volume over the last five months and won an award for the Best UX in the Ethereum ecosystem at Devcon in October 2019.

ESMA Updates Its BMR Q&As

Date 03/12/2019

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today an update of its Question and Answers (Q&As) on the European Benchmarks Regulation (BMR).

With Participation Of FTSE Russel And QFC Qatar Stock Exchange Holds Seminar On Promoting Sustainability & ESG Disclosure Among Qatari Listed Companies

Date 03/12/2019

Qatar Stock Exchange, in cooperation with FTSE Russel and Qatar Financial Centre, held a senior level sustainability and ESG engagement session, titled QSE & FTSE Russell Smart Sustainability Forum, with the aim to promote the business case for ESG and sustainability, outline QSE’s sustainability action plan to attract responsible investors, provide an overview of global investor assessment approaches to ESG, and serve as the soft launch for the QSE Sustainability and ESG Dashboard. 

CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee To Meet December 11

Date 03/12/2019

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) will hold a public meeting on December 11, 2019 at CFTC's Washington, DC headquarters. CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam is the sponsor of the MRAC.

Austrian Traded Index (ATX) & ATX Prime: New Free Float Factors For BAWAG Group AG And Marinomed Biotech AG

Date 03/12/2019

The Vienna Stock Exchange announces new free float factors for Austrian indices (in particular the Austrian benchmark index ATX), following the quarterly review of the calculation parameters. The free float factor of BAWAG Group AG rises from 0.5 to 0.7, following Cerberus' sale of a large block of shares. At Marinomed Biotech AG, the free float factor will rise from 0.4 to 0.5. The free float factor expresses how many shares of a company are distributed among the public and influences how strongly a share is weighted in the index. The French biotech company Valneva SE will be removed from the ATX Prime Index after 20 December 2019. Valneva shares are expected to be tradable in the international segment global market in the future. The changes of the free float factors will take effect on 23 December 2019. The next scheduled review of the composition of the ATX will take place on 3 March 2020. 

Moscow Exchange Trading Volumes In November 2019

Date 03/12/2019

In November 2019, total trading volume across Moscow Exchange’s markets was RUB 62.6 trln (November 2018: RUB 69.7 trln). The growth leader was the Equity Market, up 59.6%.