U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin spoke at the Texas Bankers' Association Executive Leadership Cybersecurity Conference, providing a "roadmap" for CEOs of information regarding cybersecurity and cyberattacks. Ms. Raskin provided a series of questions and answers regarding steps CEOs and their firms can take before and after a cyberattack. In her first set of recommendations, Ms. Raskin focused on "baseline protection," or the policies and controls that firms can adopt to "prevent penetration of their networks and systems" and minimize damage. Ms. Raskin stated that

SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein delivered remarks at the Consumer Federation of America's 27th Annual Financial Services Conference. She focused on disclosure, aligning interests of market participants and accountability. Commissioner Stein explained that disclosures are only an effective tool only if they can provide the investor with the information needed to make "informed decisions about the future." Commissioner Stein recognized that there are "disparate levels of investor capacity in the marketplace," and stated that the SEC's "one-size-fits-all approach" falls short of providing

Governor Lael Brainard of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") delivered remarks at the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy regarding the FRB's ongoing work to safeguard financial stability. Recognizing that the FRB is primarily a supervisor of banks and bank holding companies with limited access to market data regarding the activities of non-bank financial intermediaries, Governor Brainard stressed the importance for the FRB to utilize the tools under its authority to preserve the structural resilience of the largest and most complex financial institutions

MFA submitted comments to the CFTC outlining concerns and recommendations for the CFTC's proposed rulemaking on margin requirements for uncleared swaps for swap dealers and major swap participants. MFA's letter to the CFTC was similar to the letter recently sent to U.S. prudential regulators regarding the re-proposal of uncleared margin and capital requirements for prudentially regulated covered swap entities. The letter to the CFTC also responded to the CFTC's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on three alternative approaches to the cross-border application of its uncleared margin

The CFTC released its agenda for the upcoming Agricultural Advisory Committee ("AAC") public meeting scheduled for December 9, 2014. The AAC meeting will focus on issues involving deliverable supplies of agricultural commodities as they relate to position limits and the agricultural sector of the economy. The CFTC posted discussion questions regarding deliverable supply that will be addressed at the meeting. S ee: Agenda; Discussion Questions. Related news: CFTC to Hold Agriculture Committee Meeting (November 18, 2014).