The GAO released a report on the potential effects of the political intelligence disclosure requirements on communications between the government, the media and political intelligence firms. Political intelligence is defined in the STOCK Act as information that is "derived by a person from direct communication with an executive branch employee, a Member of Congress, or an employee of Congress; and provided in exchange for financial compensation to a client who intends, and who is known to intend, to use the information to inform investment decisions." The purpose of the report was to describe

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC") released a consultation paper and a report examining the impact of dark liquidity and high-frequency trading on Australia's financial markets. The documents focus on the quality of the market for capital raising and long-term investment. The dark liquidity task-force was set up in response to concerns about its impact on market efficiency and quality; the high-frequency trading task-force addressed concerns about disorderliness and unfairness. While the task-force did not find systematic manipulation or abuse of markets by high

The Federal Reserve Board is adopting a final rule to establish, for purposes of Dodd-Frank Title I, the following: (i) requirements for determining if a company is "predominantly engaged in financial activities," and (ii) definitions of the terms "significant nonbank financial company" and "significant bank holding company." These terms are relevant to various provisions of Title I, including Section 113 ("Authority to Require Supervision and Regulation of Certain Nonbank Financial Companies"), which authorizes the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC") to designate a nonbank

The SEC adopted a final rule that streamlines the SEC rule approval process for clearing agencies that are registered with both the SEC and the CFTC. The final rule, which adopts and expands upon an interim rule, allows rule changes filed with dually registered clearing agencies to become effective without SEC action when the rule is related to products that are not securities, including securities futures, swaps that are not securities-based swaps or mixed swaps, and forwards that are not security forwards. The rule change does not significantly affect the clearing agencies' securities

The SEC announced that Marc Fagel, the director of the San Francisco Regional Office, will be leaving the agency later this month for the private sector. He has worked at the SEC for more than 15 years. Mr. Fagel has run the San Francisco office since 2008, overseeing a staff of more than 100 attorneys, accountants, and other professionals responsible for conducting investigations, litigation, and examinations in a region covering Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Alaska. Click here to view announcement in full (links externally to SEC website).