The CFTC approved new financial rules submitted by the NFA that are intended to improve protections to customer funds held by futures commission merchants (FCMs). The new financial rules are set forth in NFA Financial Requirements Section 16, and an Interpretive Notice entitled "NFA Financial Requirements Section 16 FCM Financial Practices and Excess Segregated Funds/Secured Amount Disbursements." The rule changes adopted by the CFTC/NFA may resolve problems of the MF Global type, where the cause of the shortfall may have been permitted under-segregation of customer funds, but would not

Re: Merger and Acquisition Activities of Foreign Firms in Reliance on Exchange Act Rule 15a-6. The SEC issued a moderately significant no-action letter permitting non-U.S. broker-dealers to rely on Rule 15a-6 in connection with private M&A transactions involving U.S. corporates with over $100 million in total assets. I describe the letter as only moderately significant since the market does not generally comply with Rule 15a-6 in private transactions (and thus, as a practical matter, the letter is not a liberalization) and it is not clear how smaller U.S. corporates will be able to engage non

Timothy W. Cameron (Managing Director, SIFMA Asset Managers Group) made a statement to the Homeownership Protection Program Joint Powers Authority (JPA) expressing his concerns for the proposed use of eminent domain to take mortgage loans. SIMFA, whose members include securities firms, banks and 30 of the country's largest asset managers, who have approximately $20 trillion under management. In a plan put forward by the private group, Mortgage Resolution Partners (MRP), San Bernardino County will seize underwater, but performing loans from investors using the government's power of eminent

The OCC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OCC is soliciting comment concerning its information collection titled, "Procedures to Enhance the Accuracy and Integrity of Information Furnished to Consumer

Versus Capital Multi-Manager Real Estate Income Fund LLC and Versus Capital Advisors LLC filed an application on February 23, 2012, and amendments to the application on April 30, 2012 and June 8, 2012 requesting an order under section 6(c) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 granting an exemption from sections 18(c) and 18(i) of the Act, under sections 6(c) and 23(c)(3) of the Act granting an exemption from rule 23c-3 under the Act and pursuant to section 17(d) of the Act and rule 17d-1 under the Act. The order permits certain registered closed-end management investment companies to issue