SIFMA has released a statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., executive vice president of public policy and advocacy, applauding introduction of legislation by Representatives Steve Stivers and Gwen Moore that would clarify and narrow the scope of municipal advisor regulations under Dodd-Frank Section 975 ("Regulation of municipal securities and changes to the board of the MSRB"). Click hereto view statement (links externally to SIFMA website). See also: H.R.677 - "To exempt inter-affiliate swaps from certain regulatory requirements put in place by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) delivered the following opening statement at today's full committee markup of its oversight plan for the 113th Congress. The statement noted the following five priorities of the FSC: Conducting oversight of the financial regulators to ensure they can exercise their authority without impeding the ability of consumers and business to obtain credit; Reducing federal regulations that are unnecessary, duplicative, or overly onerous; Examining proposals to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to protect taxpayers from another costly

The SEC has announced that, on February 11, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered default judgments against Sean David Morton, who bills himself as "America's Prophet," his wife, and various corporate shell entities. In addition to ordering permanent injunctions from violating antifraud and registration statutes and rule, the defendants were ordered to disgorge, jointly and severally, a total of $11,533,382.18. Relief defendants Melissa Morton and the Prophecy Research Institute, the Mortons' nonprofit religious organization, were ordered to disgorge a

SIFMA has announced the availability of a white paper that outlines the financial industry's priorities for a U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. This paper was developed jointly by SIFMA and its European affiliate, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe ("AFME"). The joint letter covered the following issues: Commercial Presence: the letter describes the fundamental issue as equivalent "national treatment" for a financial institution operating cross-border outside its home jurisdiction; Cross-Border Business Operations: allowing services to be offered from outside

The SEC has extended , until May 5, 2013, an exemptive order from the "locate," short sale price test, and close-out requirements of Regulation SHO for sales of securities that had been held in the DTCC vault. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Depository Trust Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") reported significant damage within its vault, and that some physical certificates had been made inaccessible. As a result, sales by the owners of these securities, whose settlement is dependent on the delivery of the damaged or missing physical certificates, may experience settlement delays that could