On December 18, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United States signed a Model 1A (Reciprocal) Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") under FATCA. Under the terms of the IGA, beginning in September 2015, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration will automatically exchange data with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service with respect to bank and financial accounts and interests in Dutch financial institutions that are owned directly or indirectly by U.S. persons, and the U.S. will transmit similar information with respect to Dutch taxpayers to the Dutch tax authorities. Annex II to the IGA

FINRA has announced that, beginning with the monthly FOCUS Report due on February 26, 2014 (covering the January 31, 2014, reporting period), it is updating specified reporting schedules under the eFOCUS system to incorporate several of the new financial reporting requirements which the CFTC has adopted. Each member firm that is a futures commission merchant ("FCM") must file the updated schedules as part of its monthly FOCUS Reports. The modified version of the FOCUS Report Part II and Part II CSE, which will include the updated CFTC schedules, will be available through FINRA's eFOCUS system

FINRA announced that it has fined a member for operational deficiencies primarily related to its enhanced lending program. See: FINRA Action Letter; FINRA Press Release.

The SEC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB"), the FDIC, the National Credit Union Administration ("NCUA") and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") have announced an extension of the comment period for the joint proposed policy statement for assessing diversity policies and practices. The comment period is extended until February 7, 2014. The extension is being provided to allow the public more time to analyze the issues and prepare comments. See: SEC Press Release; Interagency Policy Statement. See

The Federal Reserve, FDIC and OCC (collectively, the "federal banking regulators") have submitted for comment a proposed joint supplemental guidance on income tax allocation agreements involving holding companies and insured depository institutions ("IDIs"). The proposed guidance is intended to supplement an interagency policy statement on income tax allocation issued by the federal banking regulators in 1998, which provided that a holding company receiving a tax refund from a taxing authority obtain such funds as agent for its subsidiary IDIs and affiliates. The proposed guidance would