New SRO rules, rule proposals and NMS plans were announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notices of exchange rule changes and proposals from November 30 to December 4. Clearance Settlement: OCC: Notice of No Objection to Advance Notice Filing to Modify The Options Clearing Corporations Margin Methodology by Incorporating Variations in Implied Volatility (Release No. 34-76548; File No. SR-OCC-2015-804; December 3, 2015) Fees, Fines, Rebates Claims: NASDAQ: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Adopt Record Keeping Change and

The Federal Reserve Board amended its regulatory capital framework ("Regulation Q") to clarify how the definition of common equity tier 1 capital applies to ownership interests issued by depository institution holding companies that are structured as partnerships or limited liability companies. Amended Regulation Q does not immediately apply to holding companies that are non-business trusts or employee stock ownership plans. The Board indicated that it would soon provide further amended Regulation Q guidance for these types of entities. The final rule is effective on January 1, 2016, but to

In a blog post titled "The Red Queen's Race: Financial Regulation Edition," University of Houston finance professor Craig Pirrong discussed the "regulation-related driven spurts in securities lending that are collateral transformation on steroids." Professor Pirrong argued that: Things like the [Liquidity Coverage Ratio] and clearing mandates were introduced to solve one set of problems (or perceived problems) inherent in the financial transformations that banks provide. But these regulations have led to the proliferation of other kinds of transformations that are problematic in their own ways

In a recent paper, Mercatus Center scholars Scott Sumner and Chad Reese addressed the need to demystify the oversight of monetary policy. They also suggested that arguments centered on the nuances of the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization Act (FORM), which was passed recently by the House, ignore the bigger picture: the bill could allow the Fed and the Congress, at long last, to speak the same language. The authors noted that the FORM bill would require the Fed to develop a standard methodology for making monetary policy decisions, which they argued would allow Congress to understand how

The House Financial Services Committee approved a number of proposed bills. The approved bills include the following: H.R. 2205, the Data Security Act of 2015; H.R. 2187, the Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act; H.R. 2287, the National Credit Union Administration Budget Transparency Act; H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015; H.R. 3784, the SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2015; H.R. 3791, which "allows more small banks and savings and loans to access capital that can be used to make loans and offer new loan products"; and H.R. 4168, the