The IRS issued a General Legal Advice Memorandum ("GLAM"). The memorandum discusses the applicability of certain safe harbor rules in Rev. Proc. 2007-65 to transactions involving the Section 45 wind energy production tax credit, and to transactions involving the Section 48 solar tax credit. Mann Comment: The GLAM makes the obvious point that the wind safe harbor rules do not necessarily apply to solar transactions and then proceeds to apply them. The transaction being discussed did not meet the safe harbor standards, the GLAM concludes. However, the transaction seems to have been structured

The House Financial Services Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing as part of an ongoing series that examines the threat posed by cyberattacks to the U.S. economy and financial services sector. According to witnesses at the hearing, an increasing number of prominent nation-states, criminal organizations, terrorist groups and "hacktivists" are capable of carrying out cyberattacks against the United States. Additionally, witnesses asserted that the U.S. financial sector is at increased risk of cyberattack relative to other sectors. C lick here to view a summary of

The MSRB added a new feature to its Electronic Municipal Market Access ("EMMA") Web site that allows investors and others to access all available disclosure information for a municipal security in cases in which new identification ("CUSIP") numbers are assigned to portions of the bond after issuance. The EMMA Web site now links a municipal bond to any new CUSIPs assigned to portions of that bond. This new feature is intended to be helpful for investors in newly created securities, as well as to the issuer of the original security, who may want to refer to the official statement or other

SEC Commissioner Kara Stein delivered remarks at the Brookings Institution. She spoke about the importance of the Investment Company Act ("ICA"), the evolution of the registered fund industry and future areas of concern for the SEC. Commissioner Stein noted that the 75th anniversary of the ICA coincides with a major rulemaking initiative by the SEC to update and modernize some of its rules for investment companies and advisors. She reported that SEC staff members are also considering potential opportunities to "enhance and improve" SEC rules that govern changes to liquidity management and the

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (collectively, the "Agencies") finalized revisions to the regulatory capital rules adopted in July 2013. The final rule applies only to large, internationally active banking organizations that determine their regulatory capital ratios under the advanced approaches rule; generally, it applies to those with at least $250 billion in total consolidated assets or at least $10 billion in total on-balance sheet foreign exposures. The Agencies published