SEC Commissioner Kara Stein discussed improving SEC rules to support innovation and facilitating capital formation. She delivered her remarks at the Stanford University Rock Center for Corporate Governance. Commissioner Stein asserted that part of the SEC's mission is to facilitate investment in innovative companies and "make venture funds' deployment of capital work as smoothly as possible." She also stated that the SEC is focused on new capital-raising methods, and must ensure its securities laws are flexible enough for a wide variety of companies and funding needs. Commissioner Stein

FINRA issued a regulatory notice regarding the SEC's recent approval of FINRA's rule change to adopt NASD Rule 3010(e) (Qualifications Investigated), relating to background checks on registration applicants, as FINRA Rule 3110(e) (Responsibility of Member to Investigate Applicants for Registration). FINRA Rule 3110(e) is based in part on substantially similar provisions in NASD Rule 3010(e) and Incorporated NYSE Rule 345.11 (Investigation and Records), and includes new provisions relating to the verification of information in the Form U4. The SEC also approved FINRA Rule 3110.15 (Temporary

The Republic of Finland signed a reciprocal Model 1 intergovernmental agreement ("IGA") with the United States, under which each country will automatically share tax information with the other with respect to certain financial accounts. Chile also signed an IGA with the United States, the first South American country to do so. The agreement with Chile, which is a Model 2 agreement, will generally require Chilean financial institutions, unless deemed compliant or otherwise exempt, to enter into a separate agreement directly with the IRS. See: FATCA Resource Center; Finland Model 1 IGA; Chile

The SEC granted no-action relief to Canadian Stock Transfer Company Inc. ("CST") and its affiliate, CST Trust Company, under Exchange Act Section 15(a)(1) to allow CST to engage in limited business as a securities broker in connection with its stock transfer business under the same conditions and representations that were made by CIBC Mellon Trust Company in a previous exemptive order. See: SEC No-Action Letter.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, issued a report challenging the fairness of tax benefits provided by certain financial products and questioning their continued utility. The report, "How Tax Pros Make the Code Less Fair and Efficient: Several New Strategies and Solutions," asserts that disparate tax treatment decreases economic efficiency by providing incentives to sophisticated taxpayers to spend resources on tax arbitrage scenarios, which undermines the vertical equity (also known as "progressivity") of the tax system. The report identifies various