The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") proposed a rule to modify the method by which small banks are assessed for purposes of contributing to the deposit insurance fund. The proposed rule would make assessment rates for small banks more forward looking in capturing risk, and would be revenue neutral. The rule would affect banks with less than $10 billion in assets that have been insured by the FDIC for a minimum of five years by reallocating premium costs amongst such banks based on their risk profiles. The FDIC published an online assessment calculator

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint release reiterating the annual public disclosure requirements for medium-sized company stress tests. Under the stress test rules required by Dodd-Frank, bank holding companies with between $10 billion and $50 billion in total consolidated assets must assess the potential impact of a minimum of three macroeconomic scenarios - baseline, adverse, and severely adverse - on their consolidated losses, revenues, balance sheet and capital. As

The SEC issued interpretive guidance clarifying how it will interpret the terms "spouse" and "marriage" in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Windsor. The interpretive guidance was published in the Federal Register. The interpretive guidance stated that the SEC will read the terms "spouse" and "marriage" to include, respectively: (i) "an individual married to a person of the same sex if the couple is lawfully married under state law, regardless of the individual's domicile," and (ii) "such a marriage between individuals of the same sex." This interpretive guidance became

The SEC's notice announcing the compliance date for the ban on third-party solicitations under Investment Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-5 (the " Pay-to-Play Rule") was published in the Federal Register. The compliance date is July 31, 2015. See: 80 FR 37538. Related news: Compliance Date Set for Ban on Third-Party Solicitations in Connection with Political Contributions (June 26, 2015); MSRB Determines to Proceed with Best-Execution Standard and Expanded Pay-to-Play Rules (May 6, 2014); MSRB Announces Items for Discussion at Board of Directors Meeting (April 23, 2014); SIFMA Submits Comments to the

The SEC's corrections to the final regulations of its "Amendments for Small and Additional Issues Exemptions under the Securities Act (Regulation A)" were published in the Federal Register. The corrections amend revisions to Item 101(a) of the final regulations, which were published in the Federal Register on April 20, 2015. The corrections became effective on July 1, 2015. See: 80 FR 37537. Related news: SEC Updates Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations Regarding Regulation A (June 24, 2015); SEC's Regulation A+ Amendments Published in Federal Register (April 20, 2015); Washington State