This attached report, Audit on the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act Exemption Related to Protecting the Identity of Whistleblowers in Fiscal Years 2012 and 2011, was conducted pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. The study was intended to: (aa) examine whether the exemption under section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code (known as the Freedom of lnformation Act) established in paragraph (2)(A) aids whistleblowers in disclosing information to the CFTC; (bb) understand what impact the exemption has had on the public's ability to access information about the CFTC's regulation of

The FDIC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking which would clarify that, although deposits in foreign branches of U.S. banks can be "deposits" for purposes of the national depositor preference statute (entitling depositors to priority over unsecured creditors in a liquidation), they are not FDIC-insured. Currently, funds deposited in foreign branches of U.S. banks are not considered "deposits" unless the funds are expressly payable in the U.S. Under the proposal, deposits that are carried on the books and records of a foreign branch of a U.S. bank may be considered "deposits" for purposes

The Senate Committee on Finance issued a press release indicating that Republicans and Democrats intend to fight over the nomination of Jack Lew to be the Secretary of the Treasury. Lofchie Comment: I was mostly puzzled as to why this required a press release. Then I got to wondering if they were agreeing to disagree, or if they were just disagreeing, or if, in the worst case, they were in disagreement as to their disagreement. View Press Release in full here (links externally to Finance Senate website).

The MSRB has updated the electronic form required in connection with reporting transactions in municipal securities to the MSRB's Real-Time Transaction Reporting System ("RTRS"). The implementation date for the use of revised Form RTRS will be April 15, 2013. On and after that date, brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers ("dealers") submitting new information or changes to previously submitted information will be required to use revised Form RTRS. According to the notice, no action is required for dealers that are not submitting new information or changes, and data contained within

The MFA has submitted comments to the SEC in response to the latter's " Order Granting Conditional Exemptions under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 in Connection with Portfolio Margining of Swaps and Security-Based Swaps". The MFA expressed its concern that it is taking too long for the the SEC and FINRA to review and approve each individual margin methodology of each broker-dealer and FCM that plans to cross-margin single name CDS (regulated by the SEC) and index CDS (regulated by the CFTC). The worry that the MFA raises is that its member organizations will be required to clear CDS