In a joint comment letter, the Managed Funds Association and SIFMA AMG (collectively, the "associations") urged the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") to modify the leverage ratio to align the treatment of cleared derivatives with the standardized approach for measuring counterparty risk in risk-based capital requirements. The letter is in response to an October 2018 consultive document published by BCBS titled " Leverage Ratio Treatment of Client Cleared Derivatives." The associations criticized the current approach to cleared derivatives in the leverage ratio, arguing that it

In a joint response to the Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee ("LEI ROC"), SIFMA, the Managed Funds Association and ISDA (collectively, the "associations") questioned the need for a Global LEI System designed to "collect fund relationships that do not roll up to the same balance sheet or financial statement." Accordingly, the associations commended the LEI ROC decision to make the disclosure of fund relationship structures optional. The associations also (i) requested confirmation that, for "umbrella" fund structures, the expectation is that the sub-fund would be reporting

In its 2019 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter, FINRA outlined key areas of focus for 2019, including: Online Distribution Platforms. FINRA will assess how firms are meeting their regulatory requirements when participating in online distributions of securities. Fixed Income Mark-Up Disclosure. FINRA will assess whether firms are complying with their disclosure requirements for mark-ups/mark-downs on fixed income securities transactions with retail customers. Regulatory Technology. FINRA will assess how firms are utilizing regulatory technology tools and addressing related risks

The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chair Mike Crapo (R-IA) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) named new members to the banking subcommittees for the 116th Congress. The banking subcommittees include (i) Housing, Transportation, and Community Development (David Perdue, GA, Chair, Robert Menendez, NJ, Ranking Democrat); (ii) Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection (Tim Scott, SC, Chair; Elizabeth Warren, MA, Ranking Democrat); (iii) Securities, Insurance, and Investment (Patrick J. Toomey, PA, Chair; Chris Van Hollen, MD, Ranking Democrat); (iv) National

IOSCO urged issuers to address environmental, social and governance ("ESG") matters in disclosures to investors. IOSCO stated that investors have become progressively interested in ESG disclosure, and have expressed a desire for improved "reliability and comparability of ESG information and disclosures." IOSCO stated that ESG disclosure practices remain inconsistent across the spectrum of issuers. For example, the type and quality of information disclosed may vary in and between markets depending on the disclosure frameworks and definitions utilized. When providing disclosure to investors