The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued a proposed policy statement to clarify several aspects of hold harmless commitments offered by applicants. The policy statement is intended to mitigate adverse rate impacts from certain transactions under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act ("FPA"). The proposed policy statement would clarify the scope, definition, and types of controls and procedures of hold harmless commitments and the costs that should be subject to them. Specifically, the statement would require applications offering hold harmless commitments to implement controls

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") conditionally accepted compliance filings by those public utility transmission providers that are enrolled in the Southeastern Regional Transmission Planning region ("SERTP") and in neighboring regions. Order No. 1000 requires neighboring transmission planning regions to identify and jointly evaluate interregional transmission facilities, which are facilities located in two or more neighboring transmission-planning regions that may offer more efficient or cost-effective solutions to the transmission needs of individual regions. FERC noted that

The SEC issued a no-action letter to a number of Israeli companies. The letter permits a modification of the U.S. tender offer procedures in order to allow compliance with the requirements of Israeli law. See: No-Action Letter.

In response to recent events involving the Swiss franc, the NFA announced that its Executive Committee will increase the minimum security deposits required to be collected and maintained by Forex dealer members ("FDMs") under NFA Financial Requirements Section 12. Section 12 requires FDMs to collect and maintain a minimum security deposit of two percent of the notional value of transactions in ten listed major foreign currencies, and five percent of the notional value of other transactions. Section 12 also permits NFA's Executive Committee to temporarily increase these requirements under

At the Bank of England in London, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Executive Vice President and General Counsel Thomas Baxter discussed the importance for financial services firms of developing and reinforcing an "ethical culture." Mr. Baxter stated that, although enforcement actions against bad actors and their employers can have a deterrent effect on undesirable behavior, enforcement actions are inevitably retrospective and must be complemented by combined efforts to build strong "ethical cultures" within financial institutions. To that end, Mr. Baxter recommended that financial services