The House Financial Services Committee (the "Committee") voted unanimously to adopt Chair Hensarling's proposed oversight plan for the 114th Congress. The plan involves particular areas in which the Committee and its subcommittees expect to conduct oversight during this Congressional term, and also addresses the laws, programs and agencies within the Committee's jurisdiction. Specifically, it addresses the oversight of issues related to financial institutions, capital markets, securities, government-sponsored enterprises, housing, insurance, international finance, the economy, domestic

At a recent open session meeting, members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") announced that they would change the selection process for identifying systemically important financial institutions ("SIFIs"). At the meeting, the Department of Justice delivered a presentation to FSOC regarding the lawsuit brought by MetLife, Inc. The presentation challenged FSOC's determination that the company would be subject to supervision by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and to enhanced prudential standards. FSOC members promised to provide earlier notification than in

The MSRB announced that its Board of Directors will convene from January 28 to January 30, 2015 to discuss various rulemaking topics. Topics to be discussed at the meeting will include: the professional qualifications of municipal advisors; gift giving by municipal advisors; and price reference information. S ee: MSRB Announcement.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") conditionally accepted compliance filings by those public utility transmission providers that are enrolled in the Southeastern Regional Transmission Planning region ("SERTP") and in neighboring regions. Order No. 1000 requires neighboring transmission planning regions to identify and jointly evaluate interregional transmission facilities, which are facilities located in two or more neighboring transmission-planning regions that may offer more efficient or cost-effective solutions to the transmission needs of individual regions. FERC noted that

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") published a Joint and Common Market Update presentation by Potomac Economics regarding (i) "interface pricing flaws that are generating inefficient incentives to schedul[ing] imports and exports," and (ii) "provisions that prevent efficient capacity imports and exports." According to the presentation, the interface pricing issue (i) undermines the efficient scheduling of power between regional transmission organizations ("RTOs"), (ii) generates substantial costs for the customers of RTOs and (iii) must be resolved before coordinated scheduling