The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of Treasury ("FinCen") issued a final rule pursuant to Section 311 of the USA Patriot Act, which imposes "special measure five" against FBME Bank Ltd. ("FBME"), formerly known as the Federal Bank of the Middle East. Special measure five prohibits U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts payable through accounts for or on behalf of the FBME. "The finalization of this rule is significant," stated FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery, "because it demonstrates that the United States will not

CFTC Chair Timothy G. Massad named Eileen T. Flaherty as the agency's Director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight. Chair Massad stated that he is "very pleased Eileen will be joining the CFTC and will be leading this important division as we fully implement the new regulatory framework for swaps." Pantano Comment: Ms. Flaherty has extensive and broad experience in the derivatives industry and is well-respected by her peers in the legal and compliance profession. See: CFTC Press Release.

Following an extended comment period, the SEC approved FINRA Rule 2241 governing equity research, and FINRA Rule 2242 governing debt research. New FINRA Rule 2241 incorporates NASD Rule 2711 ("Research Analysts and Research Reports") into the FINRA Rulebook with significant modifications, and amends NASD Rule 1050 ("Registration of Research Analysts") to create an exception from the research analyst qualification requirement. While FINRA's new equity research rules builds on the existing framework of NASD Rule 2711, the new Rule contains an over-arching requirement to adopt policies and

The Office of Financial Research ("OFR") issued a brief concerning how "different shocks can result in banks engaging in transactions to maintain compliance with regulatory ratios and what the potential implications of such transactions could be on other banks through delegating."The potential shocks on bank regulatory ratios addressed in the OFR brief included credit, funding, liquidity, and collateral shocks. The OFR recommended to U.S. banking supervisors to improve supervisory stress tests by: (i) heightening prudential standards to strengthen the ability of the banking system to withstand

SIFMA and other associations requested a sixty-day extension of the comment period on a rule proposal concerning exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees. The extension would allow commenters to provide the DOL with details about the consequences of imposing a nationwide uniform salary level on different regions of the country with different compensation levels. S ee: SIFMA Proposes Extended Comment Deadline for Overtime Pay Rulemaking.