The FDIC is soliciting comments on a proposal "to impose a surcharge on the quarterly assessments of insured depository institutions with total consolidated assets of $10 billion or more." The surcharges are required by the Dodd Frank Act. "The surcharges would begin the calendar quarter after the reserve ratio of the Deposit Insurance Fund ("DIF or fund") first reaches or exceeds 1.15 percent —the same time that lower regular deposit insurance assessment (regular assessment) rates take effect —and would continue through the quarter that the reserve ratio first reaches or exceeds 1.35 percent

SEC Division of Enforcement (the "Division") Director Andrew Ceresney highlighted developments over the past fiscal year in the SEC's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") program. The Director noted several areas: The Importance of Self-Reporting and Cooperation. The Division determined that a company must self-report misconduct in order for them to recommend a Deferred Prosecution Agreement or Non-Prosecution to the SEC in an FCPA case. Focus on Individual Liability. “Holding individuals accountable for their wrongdoing is critical to effective deterrence and, therefore, the Division

Subject to certain conditions, the SEC Division of Trading and Markets granted the National Bank of Greece S.A. ("NBG") a limited exemption from Rule 102 ("Activities by Issuers and Selling Security Holders during a Distribution") of Regulation M under the Securities Exchange Act. The exemption involves the distribution of ordinary shares of the NBG in the form of a proposed private and offshore placement, as well as a public offering in Greece. As the SEC Division of Trading and Markets noted, the NBG stressed that this relief constitutes "an essential element of the recapitalization of NBG

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") Governor Jerome H. Powell reviewed the progress made in central counterparty ("CCP") clearing and offered his thoughts on expanded central clearing for the repurchase markets. Speaking at the Clearing House Annual Conference, Mr. Powell asserted the benefits of central clearing under the right circumstances, but added that central clearing itself "is not a panacea." As risks accumulate, he said, CCPs must continue to "build up their ability to manage them" and plan for "a world in which large firms will fail and be resolved without

The CFTC Divisions of Clearing and Risk ("DCR") and Market Oversight ("DMO") granted extensions of previously issued no-action relief for certain inter-affiliate transactions. Letter 15-62 extends relief, which was granted previously in Letter 14-26 and extended by Letter 14-136, from the trade execution requirement for swaps between affiliates even when the conditions in CFTC Rule 50.52(b)-(d) are not satisfied. The relief was scheduled to end this year, but the new letter extends it through December 16, 2016. The requestors asked the CFTC for permanent relief originally, but the DMO said