Claiming that it is responding to new CFTC and international regulatory standards regarding liquidity arrangements, ICE Clear U.S. ("ICUS") announced that it is changing the way members are charged for collateral and cash management activities. Beginning on January 1, 2014, ICUS will assess a 5-basis-point charge on clearing members' U.S. treasury securities balances, calculated daily and accrued monthly. This replaces existing transaction-based fees. Beginning in early 2014, ICUS will utilize external investment managers to manage cash posted by clearing members for initial margin and

FINRA settled charges and fined a clearing firm for numerous failures to comply with anti-money laundering ("AML"), financial reporting, and supervisory obligations. FINRA found that the firm's AML surveillance program did not "reasonably address the risks of its business model." FINRA noted that accounts which COR dealt with presented a higher risk of money laundering and other fraudulent activity. The surveillance program, according to FINRA, failed to identify and address "red flags" related to its corresponding firms and transactions by customers. Specifically, FINRA noted that, for

Thomas M. Hoenig, Vice Chairman of the FDIC, gave a speech touting the benefits of changing the structure of the U.S. financial system so that complex financial firms would be separated along business lines and into separate corporate entities. He criticized the broad expansion of the U.S. financial safety net in the years preceding the recent crisis, arguing that its effect was to erode economic stability rather than promote it. Hoenig then characterized the regulatory response to the financial crisis, including the reforms mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, as "complicated administration"

The CFTC announced that its members have unanimously elected Commissioner Mark P. Wetjen to serve as Acting Chairman upon the end of Chairman Gary Gensler's service. Wetjen was sworn in as a Commissioner of the CFTC in October 2011. Prior to his CFTC service, he worked in the U.S. Senate as a senior leadership staffer, advising on all financial-services-related matters. Before his service in the Senate, Wetjen was a lawyer in private practice. Lofchie Comment : The new acting Chairman is in a difficult position. Many who participate in the financial markets and navigate the CFTC's rules view

The CFTC announced that Sayee Srinivasan has been named Acting Chief Economist. Mr. Srinivasan will be responsible for leading the CFTC's efforts in drafting policy and rulemaking, among other areas. See: CFTC Press Release.