Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") Dr. Michael Stegman delivered remarks regarding Treasury initiatives to facilitate the development of market standards and practices for a sustainable private label mortgage-backed securities ("PLS") market. According to Dr. Stegman, securitization has played a valuable role historically in housing finance. By allowing interest rate and credit risks to be allocated among different investors, Dr. Stegman explained, credit was expanded for many credit-qualified Americans. Dr. Stegman mentioned the Consumer Financial

The CFTC announced that it has entered into a consent order settling charges brought against Brian Hunter, former head trader at Amaranth Advisors LLC ("Amaranth"), for attempting to manipulate the price of natural gas futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange ("NYMEX"). The federal court order, entered on September 15, 2014, requires that Hunter pay a $750,000 civil monetary penalty, and permanently bans him from trading all CFTC-regulated natural gas products during the daily closing period. Additionally, the order permanently prohibits Hunter from registering with the

The CFTC Divisions of Market Oversight ("DMO") and Swap and Intermediary Oversight announced the issuance of an enabling no-action letter for qualifying swaps trading platforms that are licensed in Australia and overseen by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("Australian Licensed Markets"). The enabling no-action letter provides relief for the following platforms and parties: qualifying Australian Licensed Markets, from the SEF registration requirement under CEA Section 5h(a)(1) ("Swap Execution Facilities"); parties executing swap transactions on qualifying Australian

The SEC's adopted amendments to existing rules, and new rules that apply to credit rating agencies registered with the SEC as nationally recognized statistical rating organizations ("NRSROs"), were published in the Federal Register. The amendments relate to the implementation of a requirement added by Dodd-Frank that issuers and underwriters of asset-backed securities make publicly available the findings and conclusions of any third-party due diligence report obtained by the issuer or underwriter. The rules will become effective on November 14, 2014. Certain amendments listed in the release

In a speech before the Eurofi Financial Forum, Vice President of the European Commission Michel Barnier explained that the European Commission is engaged in "near daily discussions" with the CFTC and Chair Massad to find a solution with U.S. regulators to the application of rules for swaps clearinghouses. Mr. Barnier stated that both the European Union and the United States must work together to ensure that the rules are applied in a "consistent and coherent way." He noted that "it takes two to tango," and that the "American side must also deliver." Mr. Barnier went on to say that he will work