The SEC named S.P. Kothari as the Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis ("DERA"). Mr. Kothari joins the SEC from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, where he has been a professor and administrator for nearly two decades. Dr. Chyhe Becker, who has been serving as Acting Director, will continue to serve as Deputy Director and Associate Director of Litigation Economics.

Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ("New York Fed") Michael Held urged firms to prepare for the transition from LIBOR to an alternate interest rate. He cautioned that the transition from LIBOR has been identified by the Financial Stability Oversight Council as a financial stability risk. Mr. Held stated that "[t]he gross notional value of all financial products tied to U.S. dollar LIBOR is approximately $200 trillion - about 10 times U.S. GDP." He further reported that approximately 95 percent of LIBOR exposure is in derivatives contracts. In

The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") Bureau of Competition (the "Bureau") created a Task Force to investigate possible anticompetitive conduct in U.S. technology markets. The Task Force will coordinate with law enforcement staff throughout the FTC on technology-related matters, including prospective mergers and reviews of consummated technology mergers. In creating the Task Force, the Bureau will draw on existing staff to improve the Bureau's focus on technology-related sectors of the economy. The FTC noted that Task Force members, who will join from various divisions within the Bureau, will

The MSRB proposed a rule change to improve the information facility for the Short-Term Obligation Rate Transparency ("SHORT") system. The SHORT system provides an electronic platform for municipal securities dealers to submit data and other information to the MSRB regarding variable rate demand obligations and auction rate securities. The SHORT information facility sets forth the "material aspects of the operation of the SHORT system" and explains the functionality of the SHORT system. The proposed rule change is intended to contribute to the MSRB's efforts to enhance market transparency by

The NFA reported that its Board of Directors (the "Board") re-elected Michael C. Dawley of Goldman Sachs & Co. to serve an additional one-year term as Chair and Maureen C. Downs of Phillip Capital, Inc. to serve as Vice Chair. The Board elected five individuals to serve as public directors for two-year terms, and thirteen individuals to serve one-year terms on the NFA Executive Committee.