The CFTC met on cross-border issues with the Institute of International Bankers ("IIB"). Click here for more information.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("Board") is inviting comments on a proposed rule to implement Section 318 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which directs the Board to collect assessments, fees, or other charges equal to the total expenses which the Board estimates are necessary or appropriate to carry out the supervisory and regulatory responsibilities of the Board for bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies with total consolidated assets of $50 billion or more and nonbank financial companies designated for Board supervision by the Financial Stability Oversight

CFTC Commissioner Chilton gave a speech in which he repeated the themes he has emphasized in the past: (i) that "massive passives" drive up the price of commodities to irrational levels and (ii) that high-speed traders have an unfair advantage over low-speed traders. Lofchie Comment: Commissioner Chilton attempts a very important task, which is to link economic theory to regulatory policy. I don't think that one can meaningfully debate regulatory policy without some view of economic theory. In fact, one of the themes of his speech is that different people may perceive the same events (or the

Commenting on a FINRA rule proposal, SIFMA recommends that FINRA Rule 8313, which governs the release of disciplinary and other information by FINRA to the public, be amended to provide for the public disclosure of a failure by a member or associated persons of a member to pay an arbitration award to an industry claimant. Currently, FINRA Rule 9554 allows for the suspension or cancellation of membership or a suspension from associating with any member when a member or associated person fails to comply with an arbitration award or settlement agreement related to arbitration or mediation. The

SIFMA filed an amicus brief, in a case involving the underwriting in 1999 of the eToys IPO, which supports the position that the lead underwriter in an initial public offering does not owe a fiduciary duty to the issuer of securities to disclose conflicts of interest in connection with the pricing of the securities. The case against the underwriter was brought by a committee of eToy's creditors. SIFMA's amicus brief provides a review of considerations as to why such a fiduciary standard should not be imposed on underwriters where it is not set forth in the underwriting contract itself. View