SIFMA, the Financial Services Forum, The Financial Services Roundtable ("FSR"), the Investment Company Institute ("ICI"), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce submitted the attached comments to the European Commission ("EC") expressing serious concerns related to the extraterritorial impact in the United States and other countries of the EC's draft Council Directive implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax (links to EC page). The groups assert the Directive would introduce both a residency and issuance test for taxation, which it says are inconsistent with

SEC Chairman Elisse Walter made remarks at the SEC open meeting on whether to approve the proposed 2013 budget and accounting support fee for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB" or "Board"). According to Chairman Walter, the PCAOB has an interim broker-dealer inspection program in place, and has issued a public report on the progress of the interim broker-dealer inspections program and the audit deficiencies identified in the limited initial group of inspected audits of broker-dealers. Chairman Walter noted that the Board plans to continue inspections under the interim

The House Financial Services Committee released Chairman Hensarling’s proposed oversight plan of the Committee on Financial Services for the 113th Congress. The document includes areas in which the Committee and its subcommittees expect to conduct oversight during this Congress. The plan addresses the laws, programs, and agencies within the Committee's jurisdiction, particularly the implementation of Dodd-Frank. Lofchie Comment : It doesn’t take too much effort to see how the Committee on Financial Services can conclude that Dodd-Frank is materially damaging to the economy. Likewise it does

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing that will examine the financial status of the Federal Housing Administration ("FHA") and the actuarial review of the FHA's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund ("MMIF") for Fiscal Year 2012, released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") on November 16, 2012. The witness at the hearing will be Ms. Carol J. Galante, Federal Housing Commissioner and the Assistant Secretary for Housing.According to the attached reports, the Federal Housing Administration's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund was more than $10 billion under water

NASDAQ announced that it plans to begin pre-market trading in all NMS securities at 4:00 a.m., Eastern Time, subject to regulatory approval from the SEC, as early as Monday, March 18, 2013. The effective date will be confirmed pending filing with the SEC. See below for details. All order types available for submission from 7:00 a.m. will be available from 4:00 a.m. All orders eligible for execution during systems hours (currently 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.) will be eligible for execution from 4:00 a.m. All data feeds available from 7:00 a.m. will be available from 4:00 a.m. The opening cross