The MSRB requested public comment on a proposal to require dealers to ensure that members of their staff primarily engaged in municipal securities business annually receive training in municipal securities. The proposed change to the continuing education requirements for dealers set out in MSRB Rule G-3 ("Classification of Principals and Representatives; Numerical Requirements; Testing; Continuing Education Requirements") would require a minimum of one hour of training focused on municipal securities for professionals primarily engaged in municipal securities activities. Currently, dealer

The Governments of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man announced on December 13, 2013 that they had each signed final IGAs with the United States. The texts of the IGAs were not immediately available, but each is anticipated to be a Model 1 type IGA with account information provided to the local government for transmittal to the United States. With these agreements, a total of 15 IGAs have been signed. See also : Information as to the Cabinet's New FATCA Page; Link to the FATCA Page.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") announced the designation of the chairs and deputy chairs of each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks for 2014. Each Reserve Bank has a nine-member board of directors. The Board of Governors in Washington appoints three of these directors and each year designates one of its appointees as chair and a second as deputy chair. Cl ick here for a complete list of the various bank chairs and deputy chairs.

The SEC charged Merrill Lynch with making faulty disclosures as to collateral selection for two collateralized debt obligations ("CDOs") that it structured and marketed to investors, as well as maintaining inaccurate books and records for a third CDO. The SEC's order found that Merill Lynch failed to inform investors that a third party had exercised significant influence over the selection of collateral for the CDOs and that its interests were "not necessarily aligned with those of other investors" because it had hedged its equity positions by shorting against the CDOs. Similarly, the SEC also

The SEC charged a London-based hedge fund adviser and its former U.S.-based holding company with internal control failures that led to the overvaluation of a fund's assets and inflated fee revenue for the firms. During the period of managing a private equity fund, the adviser's internal control failures caused the overvaluation of the fund's 25 percent private equity stake in an emerging market coal mining company. The overvaluation resulted in inflated fees to the advisory firm and in the overstatement of assets under management in the holding company's filings with the SEC. See : SEC Order