Executive Vice President and General Counsel of SIFMA Ira D. Hammerman spoke at the SIFMA Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Conference. His remarks highlighted the important and evolving role that compliance plays in maintaining robust market structures. Mr. Hammerman stated that the increased recognition of the importance of the compliance function is "a good thing" and has made the strengthening of compliance functions at firms "a top priority." Increasingly, Mr. Hammerman explained, the compliance function has become more complex as the expectations of compliance departments have

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing titled "Federal Reserve Accountability and Reform." The following witnesses testified at the hearing: Dr. John B. Taylor, Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics, Stanford University (Written Testimony); Dr. Paul Kupiec, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute (Written Testimony); Dr. Allan H. Meltzer, Professor of Political Economy, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University (Written Testimony); and Mr. Peter Conti-Brown, Academic Fellow, Stanford Law School (Written Testimony). C lick

Vice Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") Thomas M. Hoenig spoke at the Institute of International Bankers' Annual Washington Conference about the principles of effective financial supervision. Mr. Hoenig explained that the best ways to judge a firm's risk profile are through a strong supervisory program and an equally strong examination process, which include assessing a firm's "liquidity, operations, balance-sheet strength, asset quality, and management." He noted that although large insured banks are considered too complex for full-scope examinations, sampling

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry spoke before the Institute of International Bankers about the Bank Secrecy Act ("BSA") and anti-money laundering ("AML") challenges. According to Mr. Curry, the BSA and AML statutes are a source of risk that is a matter of particular growing urgency. He explained that one of his highest priorities has been to strengthen the oversight of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") of BSA/AML compliance in the banks that it supervises, given the risks to banks that are posed by terrorist and criminal organizations. Mr. Curry noted that the

The CFTC announced that it will hold a public roundtable discussion titled "Cybersecurity and System Safeguards Testing" on March 18, 2015. The roundtable discussion will address the need for testing in the current cybersecurity environment, as well as certain types of system safeguards testing and associated risk assessment practices, including (i) vulnerability and penetration testing, (ii) key controls testing and (iii) business continuity and disaster recovery testing. The CFTC also will consider the best way to leverage enhanced system safeguards testing requirements, including