The SEC announced that Thomas P. Flanagan - a former Deloitte partner - pleaded guilty to one count of criminal securities fraud for engaging in insider trading and has been sentenced to 21 months of incarceration and a $100,000 penalty. Click here to view litigation release in full (links externally to SEC website).

It has been reported that Barclays is set to appear in the High Court in London on Monday, November 5th, to defend a £38 million claim filed by Guardian Care Limited over the alleged mis-selling of interest rate swaps by the bank. The litigation may be a test case as to how the English courts will approach litigation arising from LIBOR-related claims. Lawyers for the claimant are reportedly intending to argue that the bank’s involvement in LIBOR manipulation this summer should mean that any interest rate derivatives sold by Barclays are potentially voidable.

The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has announced that it has established a panel to investigate the failure of HBOS. The work of the panel will be parallel to the investigation into the bank, which has already been proposed by the Financial Services Authority. The panel has held a public evidence session in which several former and current HBOS senior officials were cross-examined.

The Board of Directors of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board ("MSRB") held its quarterly meeting from October 24 to 26, in which it advanced a proposal to increase disclosure of contributions by municipal securities dealers and municipal finance professionals to bond ballot campaigns, and further refined a number of investor protection initiatives. The MSRB stated that many market stakeholders would like to see the MSRB restrict bond ballot contributions by dealers in order to improve integrity of the municipal market. The decision to require disclosure of additional information is an

In preparation for the meeting of G20 ministers and governors in Mexico City on November 4th – 5th, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published its report on Basel III implementation, which covers all three levels of the Committee’s Basel III implementation review program: (i) ensuring timely adoption, (ii) assessing regulatory consistency and (iii) assessing the consistency of outcomes. The Chairman of the Committee noted that significant progress has been made since the last report to the G20 leaders was published in 2012, particularly as many Committee members now have final