The Senate Finance Committee will convene an open executive session on Friday, December 13, 2013, to vote on three nominations. The nominees are: Sarah Bloom Raskin for Deputy Secretary of the Treasury John Andrew Koskinen for Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service Rhonda Schnare Schmidtlein for a Member of the United States International Trade Commission The open executive session will take place at 11:00 a.m. and will be made available via webcast on the committee website. See : Senate Finance Committee Press Release. See also: Baucus Calls on Koskinen to Rebuild Public Trust as IRS

The MSRB launched an online survey for the users of its Electronic Municipal Market Access ("EMMA") website. The purpose of the survey is to gain a better understanding of how EMMA is viewed in the marketplace and the extent to which users rely on EMMA for market information. The survey will be available through January 8, 2014, and is a part of the MSRB's ongoing effort to improve the usability of the EMMA website. S ee: MSRB Press Release.

At a Washington D.C. Bar Event, CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler delivered a speech covering themes addressed in previous speeches regarding swaps market regulation. Chairman Gensler described what he views as the major components of swaps market reform, including: transparency to regulators, through means such as putting swap data repositories in place; public market transparency; Weekly Swaps Reports; pre-transaction transparency, through means such as requiring swap execution facilities to provide it as swap trading platforms; central clearing reform, through means such as the mandatory clearing

The CFTC's approval of the Volcker Rule had been delayed by bad weather in Washington, but that agency has now approved the Volcker Rule with Commissioner O'Malia dissenting. See: CFTC Press Release Announcing Its Adoption of the Volcker Rule;Statement of Support of CFTC Chairman Gensler; Statement of Support of CFTC Commissioner Chilton; Statement of Support of CFTC Commissioner Wetjen; Dissenting Statement of CFTC Commissioner O'Malia. See generally: Agencies Issue Final Volcker Rule (with Cadwalader Partner Scott Cammarn Interview on Bloomberg TV). See also: Cabinet Volcker Rule Page.

The SEC has approved amendments to MSRB Rule G-11 ("Primary Offering Practices") to enhance protections for investors in municipal securities against unexpected changes in underlying bond-authorizing documents. The amendments generally prohibit broker-dealers and municipal securities dealers from making changes in bond authorizing documents including trust indentures and bond resolutions, subject to "carefully defined exceptions." Changes will be made effective on February 3, 2014. See: Text of Rule Change; MSRB Regulatory Notice; Press Release.