Sifma : News on the capital markets, securities and financial industry
21/12/2011 SIFMA
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Lawmakers seek exemptions to muni adviser
definition
A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, urging exemption of regulated entities, such as
broker-dealers, from its proposed definition of municipal advisers.
"It's clear members of Congress, on a bipartisan basis, have grave
concerns over the scope of the SEC's broad definition of municipal
adviser, and they have appropriately asked the SEC to correct the
reach of this proposed rule," Michael Decker, managing director and
co-head of SIFMA's muni securities division, said in a written
statement. The Bond Buyer (free content)(12/21)
CFTC approves swaps-trade reporting
rule
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final swaps
trade reporting rule that will impose a "real-time price disclosure
delay" of a half hour. The delay will eventually drop to 15
minutes. "Leading up to the financial crisis, there was no required
reporting about swaps trading, and this lack of market transparency
made the risk that had spread throughout the financial system all
the more difficult to identify," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said.
"This will for the first time give the broad public a window."
Read SIFMA's statement on CFTC Swaps Reporting
Rules. The Wall Street Journal(12/21), Bloomberg Businessweek(12/21), Financial Times(tiered subscription
model)(12/20)
Gensler aims to propose Volcker rule next
month
Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
says the agency is preparing to follow the lead of other federal
regulators by proposing the Volcker rule. "I would be hopeful that
we would address ourselves to a proposal -- possibly even in the
first meeting of January -- of the Volcker rule," Gensler said. The
CFTC is tentatively scheduled to meet Jan. 11. Bloomberg(12/20)
Global regulatory efforts are expected to boost
shadow banks
Efforts by global regulators to improve the stability of the
financial system could inadvertently help the shadow-banking
system, experts said. Hedge funds, private-equity funds and other
players in shadow banking are expected to acquire assets that banks
must sell to comply with regulations. "The growth of the
shadow-banking system is a logical consequence," said Konrad
Becker, an analyst at Merck Finck. Reuters(12/20)
Peter J. Wallison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that the Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announcement of lawsuits against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives is "a seminal event." The SEC has clarified the role of the government-sponsored mortgage giants in the subprime crisis. "More importantly, the SEC is saying that Fannie and Freddie -- the largest buyers and securitizers of subprime and other low-quality mortgages -- hid the size of their purchases from the market," Wallison writes. The Wall Street Journal(12/21