SIFMA issued a statement, in response to the 9/11 Commission Report, that identified cybersecurity as a key area of focus for U.S. security and recommended that Congress enact legislation to enable private companies to collaborate with the government in countering cyber threats. According to SIFMA, a robust public-private partnership is the most effective way to prevent and defend against cyber attacks. SIFMA urged Congress to take action on the bipartisan information-sharing legislation pending in the Senate, which would provide important liability protections and enhanced coordination. See

The SEC charged a partner at the investor relations firm Cameron Associates with insider trading on the confidential information he learned about two clients while helping to prepare their press releases. According to the SEC complaint, the partner sold his shares in Misonix Inc. upon learning that the company was set to announce disappointing financial results. Additionally, the partner bought stock in Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. when he learned about the company's impending announcement of positive news, and profited when its stock price nearly doubled. In both cases, the partner learned

The IRS issued long-awaited instructions to withholding agents that request W-8s (including W-8BENs and W-8BEN-Es) from foreign persons. The Form W-8s have been revised substantially in recent months to reflect the due diligence requirements imposed by FATCA, including the obligation of most foreign persons to declare their status under FATCA. Instructions to the Forms themselves were issued last month. However, withholding agents have been waiting for instructions on which form to request from which type of taxpayer, as well as technical explanations of the information that withholding agents

The House Committee on Financial Services published a report by the Republican staff on the Committee, titled "Failing to End 'Too Big to Fail,'" which assesses the Dodd-Frank Act's"too big to fail" provisions. The report reviewed factors that led to the financial crisis in 2008 and the conduct of the government in alleviating the crisis, including the steps that it took to "bail out" various financial institutions. According to the report, financial experts, regulators and market participants now agree that Dodd-Frank failed to accomplish its goals, particularly the goal of eliminating "too

IOSCO published a report, titled "Review of the Implementation of IOSCO's Principles for Financial Benchmarks by Administrators of LIBOR, EURIBOR and TIBOR" (the "Report"), which assesses the three major interest rates reference benchmarks against the internationally agreed upon IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks. The Report was prepared in response to a request, in the Financial Stability Board's report on reforming major interest rate benchmarks, to review the three major benchmarks. According to the Report, completed and ongoing reforms have raised the overall oversight, governance