The MSRB announced that it will establish an investor advisory group to provide the MSRB's Board of Directors with additional expertise on municipal market practices, transparency and investor protection issues. Earlier, the MSRB Board requested comments on a proposal to modify the application of the standard of independence for the one public member of the board who was designated to represent institutional or retail investors in municipal securities. The goal of the proposal was to allow the MSRB to distinguish between an investor representative with significant knowledge of the municipal

SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr discussed the SEC's key accounting priorities at the AICPA National Conference on Banks and Savings Institutions. The priorities he outlined included (i) the implementation of the new revenue recognition standard, (ii) the upcoming release of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's new credit impairment standard and (iii) reconsideration of issues related to the International Financial Reporting Standards.

The SEC set the compliance date for amendments to Regulation AB. Regulation AB consolidates and codifies existing interpretative positions that clarify Securities Act of 1933 registration requirements for asset backed securities offerings. The relevant amendments require asset-level disclosure for offerings of asset-backed securities backed by residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans, auto leases and debt securitizations (including resecuritizations). The asset-level data requirements are applicable only to securitizations in which the initial bona fide offer occurs on or after

IOSCO issued a report titled Implementation of the Principles for Oil Price Reporting Agencies. The report sets out principles that are intended to enhance the reliability of oil price assessments referenced in derivative contracts, subject to regulation by IOSCO members. This report is the second in a series on oil price reporting and price reporting agencies (PRAs). The report takes into account the results of the PRAs' second-year assurance reports, the operational changes implemented by the PRAs and the public comments received on the continuing implementation of the PRA Principles. IOSCO

FDIC Vice Chair Thomas Hoenig argued the benefits of strengthening leverage capital requirements for derivatives. He compared two primary approaches for setting regulatory capital requirements: (i) leverage and (ii) risk-based standards. The Vice Chair criticized efforts to weaken the leverage ratio's treatment of derivatives, and declared that the alternative risk-based capital framework option has been "entirely unsuccessful." Vice Chair Hoenig delivered his remarks at the Exchequer Club of Washington D.C. In response to the argument "by some regulators" that the leverage ratio is a threat