The United Kingdom has issued draft regulations and Guidance Notes clarifying certain aspects of the FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement that it signed with the United States on September 18, 2012. The draft Guidance proposes, among other points, that reporting under the IGA by Collective Investment Schemes be done by the manager or operator of the Scheme, and generally the trustees, and no one else, of a trust report information with respect to property held by the trust, and that such property be treated as a custodial account. The UK also proposed that any reporting financial institution that

SIFMA submitted comments to the Mayor of Salinas, CA and to Brockton, MA City Council opposing the use of eminent domain to seize mortgage loans from their holders. SIFMA asserts that such proposals, if implemented, would have an extremely harmful impact on the municipality and mortgage borrowers in the community. See: SIFMA Submits Comments to the Mayor of Salinas, CA Opposing the Use of Eminent Domain to Seize Mortgage Loans. See also: SIFMA Submits Comments to the Brockton, MA City Council Opposing the Use of Eminent Domain to Seize Mortgage Loans.

SIFMA submitted a comment letter to the SEC requesting an extension of the expiration date of the SEC's Exchange Act Exemptive Order and security-based swaps ("SBS") interim final rules until July 17, 2013. In the letter, SIFMA notes that Dodd-Frank Sections 761and 768 included SBS in the definition of "security" for purposes of the Exchange Act and Securities Act, and states that key issues and questions regarding the application of the federal securities laws to SBS remain unresolved. The exemptive order is currently set to expire on February 11, 2013, which SIFMA argues would be premature

The SEC approved amendments to FINRA Rule 6700 Series and TRACE dissemination protocols. These amendments provide for the dissemination of trade information as to agency pass-through mortgage-backed securities that are traded in specified pool transactions (MBS specified pool transactions) and SBA-backed ABS that are traded either in specified pool transactions or TBA (collectively, SBA-backed ABS transactions). FINRA also reduced the reporting periods for MBS specified pool and SBA-backed ABS transactions to improve the timeliness of the transaction information to be disseminated, and

IntercontinentalExchange ("ICE") and NYSE Euronext ("NYX") announced a definitive agreement for ICE to acquire NYSE Euronext in a stock-and-cash transaction. The acquisition will create a global exchange operator which is diversified across a number of different markets, including agricultural and energy commodities, credit derivatives, equities and equity derivatives, forex and interest rates. NYSE Euronext shareholders will own approximately 36% of ICE shares post-transaction.