Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry delivered a speech at an Interagency Outreach Meeting in which he discussed possible ways to reduce regulatory burdens for smaller institutions. According to Comptroller Curry, while most regulations should provide benefits that outweigh the burdens they impose, the way regulatory rulebooks add more requirements over time can be "onerous forsmall banks." To remove unnecessary regulatory burdens for smaller institutions, Comptroller Curry proposed: to raise the asset threshold from $500 million to $750 million in order to qualify 300 additional banks and

SIFMA submitted critical comments to FINRA regarding the FINRA rule proposal to implement the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System ("CARDS"). According to SIFMA, FINRA's CARDS proposal would impose "undue costs and burdens" on member firms, and is an attempt to "diagnose a regulatory ill without appropriately accounting for the impact on investor privacy and civil liberties." SIFMA explained that the "most troubling" aspect of the proposal is that CARDS would require the continued and regular disclosure to FINRA of "the most intimate financial details" of every investor's securities

The NFA issued a Notice to Members announcing that the NFA Interpretive Notice titled " NFA Compliance Rules 2-4 and 2-36: Prohibition on the Use of Certain Electronic Funding Mechanisms" was recently approved by the CFTC and will become effective on January 31, 2015. The Interpretive Notice prohibits NFA Members from permitting customers to fund their futures or forex accounts with a credit card or other electronic methods tied to a credit card, or a payment facilitator such as PayPal. See: NFA Notice I-14-33. Related news: NFA-Proposed Interpretive Notice Prohibiting the Use of Credit Cards

The NFA issued a Notice to Members requesting nominations from Members to fill six Public Director vacancies on the NFA Board of Directors. The terms of five of the NFA's current Public Representatives are set to expire at the Board's 2015 regular annual meeting on February 19, 2015. Additionally, the NFA will be seeking an additional Public Representative in order to maintain its policy of having 35 percent of its overall Board composition represented by Public Directors. All nominations must be received by fax or e-mail on or before January 20, 2015. See: NFA Notice I-14-32.

The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") announced that any jurisdiction that had agreed in substance to the terms of an Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") with the United States on or before June 30, 2014, but that has not signed such agreement, will be treated as if it had such IGA in effect beyond December 31, 2014, so long as the jurisdiction continues to demonstrate a firm resolve to sign the IGA as soon as possible. The IRS had previously stated, in Announcement 2014-17, that any IGA not signed by December 31, 2014 would cease to be considered in effect after that date. In