Four industry trade associations submitted a letter to the CFTC requesting that the Division of Swap and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") provide a 9-month temporary exclusion from including an investment in a securitization vehicle as a "commodity interest," for purposes of § 4.13(a)(3) [Fund Exemption for CPO Registration] and/or § 4.5 [Fund Exclusion for CPO Registration] while DSIO develops guidance on the treatment of such investments in securitization vehicles. The associations (including the Managed Funds Association, the Investment Adviser Association, the Investment Company Institute

The CFTC approved an order for the DTCC Data Repository (U.S.), LLC, a provisionally registered swap data repository, to accept swap data for the "other commodity" asset class pursuant to Commodity Exchange Act Sec. 21 and CFTC Rule Part 49 [Swap Data Repositories]. View letter in full here (links externally to CFTC website).

SEC Acting Chief Accountant Paul A. Beswick delivered remarks regarding current SEC and PCAOB developments at the 40th annual American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) National Conference. Key topics included: International Financial Reporting Standards; Scope of the Financial Statements; Convergence Projects; Auditor Independence and Consultancy Practices; Internal Control over Financial Reporting; Auditor's Reporting Model. One of the principal topics of the speech by SEC Commissioner Luis Aquilar was the difficulty that the U.S. regulators have experienced in obtaining audit papers from non-U.S

The SEC initiated administrative proceedings against the Chinese affiliates of various U.S. accounting firms for not producing audit work papers and other documents related to China-based companies under investigation for potential accounting fraud against U.S. investors. According to the Order, (i) the audit materials are being sought as part of SEC investigations into potential wrongdoing by nine China-based companies whose securities are publicly traded in the United States, and (ii) the audit firms' refusal to provide the documents sought by the SEC is in contravention of their legal

House Democrats Barney Frank and Michael Capuano are introducing a bill seeking to merge the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC). In addition, the bill would establish a new independent regulatory commission known as the "Securities and Derivatives Commission." As to this latter new Commission, the bill specifies that the Commissioners be knowledgeable as to the regulation of derivatives, but does not actually specify anything that the Commissioners would be required to do or any responsibilities that they would have (so it seems like a