The MSRB published the topics that will be covered at the Board of Directors meeting on October 23-25. The following rulemaking topics will be discussed at the meeting: Best execution Municipal advisor regulation Rule G-42 ("Broker's Brokers") Rule A-12 Fair Pricing Professional Qualifications See: MSRB Meeting Agenda. Related news: MSRB Seeks Input on Annual Planning (March 5, 2013) MSRB Requests Comment on Proposed "Best Execution" Standard for Munis (August 6, 2013) SEC Press Release on Its Approval of Registration Rules for Municipal Advisors (September 18, 2013) MSRB Notice 2013-19

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") issued a financial institution letter to describe the reports and information required under Dodd-Frank Section 165(i)(2) ("Enhanced Supervision and Prudential Standards for Nonbank Financial Companies Supervised by the Board of Governors and Certain Bank Holding Companies") of covered banks with total consolidated assets between $10 billion and $50 billion. The data collected through the stress-test reporting templates will be used to assess how reasonable a covered bank's stress-test results are, and provide forward-looking information to

CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton delivered a speech, on October 9 before the National Association of Credit Management, which focused on the changing environment of the financial sector and places where improvements should be made. Commissioner Chilton spoke about the the financial sector's "unfortunate state of affairs," discussing many banks that have violated trading laws in recent years, such as the London Whale case and the LIBOR manipulation cases. To address these negative developments, Commissioner Chilton suggested updating the penalty regime by imposing greater monetary fines and

SEC Chair Mary Jo White spoke at the Managed Funds Association Outlook 2013 Conference, focusing on the importance of transparency in the hedge fund industry. According to Chair White, managed funds, including hedge funds, have a duty to be more transparent now that JOBS Act, which lifted the general ban on public solicitation, has come into effect. As a result, she said that hedge fund managers must now speak openly and frankly with investors, as well as share more information with the regulators. In the latter regard, she said that the SEC was seeking more information about the hedge fund

The SEC announced charges against Wing F. Chau and his New Jersey-based advisory firm, Harding Advisory LLC, for misleading investors in a collateralized debt obligation ("CDO") and breaching their fiduciary duties. The SEC alleges that Mr. Chau and Harding Advisory compromised their independent judgment as collateral manager to a CDO named Octans I CDO Ltd. in order to accommodate trades requested by a third-party hedge fund firm whose interests were not necessarily aligned with the debt investors'. The Order further alleges that while assembling the collateral for Octans I, Chau and Harding