The new MSRB Rule A-11 establishes an annual municipal advisor professional fee. The MSRB stated that this fee would help "defray" the costs and expenses of operating and administering the MSRB, including the increased costs associated with the regulation of municipal advisors. Although this rule was deemed noncontroversial by the SEC and thus is immediately effective, comments must be submitted by May 22, 2014. See: 79 FR 24798. Related news: MSRB Proposes Rule Change to Establish Fees for Municipal Advisors (Notice 2014-09) (April 17, 2014).To stay up-to-date on all MSRB rule filings, please

The Joint Forum of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, IOSCO and International Association of Insurance Supervisors issued a final paper that identifies and assesses the differences and gaps in regulatory approaches to point-of-sale disclosure for investment and savings products across the insurance, banking and securities sectors, and considers whether the approaches need to be further aligned across sectors. The final paper sets out various recommendations for assisting policymakers and supervisors in considering, developing and modifying their point-of-sale disclosure regulations

Mercatus Scholar and former Congressional and SEC staff attorney Hester Peirce posted a working paper titled "Securities Lending and the Untold Story in the Collapse of AIG," in which she argues that the reasons for AIG's collapse were more complicated than conventional accounts suggest (particularly those used to justify the regulatory responses embodied in Dodd-Frank). Ms. Peirce argues, among other things, that the cause of AIG's downfall was related less to derivatives and more to its securities lending business, particularly to its reinvestment of the cash collateral that it received from

On May 1, 2014, the IRS added four new questions and answers to its FATCA FAQs Web site. Two of the new questions and answers address who may act as Responsible Officer for a Foreign Financial Institution ("FFI") and the scope of the certification that such Responsible Officer is required to make in connection with the registration of the FFI with the IRS, in each case depending on the status of the particular FFI under FATCA. Another FAQ discusses the impact of completing Part IV of the Registration, which again differs depending on the status of the FFI that is being registered. The last two

The SEC order approving the FINRA-proposed rule change to simplify and refine the scope of FINRA Corporate Financing Rules 5110("Corporate Financing Rule - Underwriting Terms and Arrangements") and 5121("Public Offerings of Securities with Conflicts of Interest") was published in the Federal Register. See: 79 FR 24802. Related news: SEC Approves Proposed Amendments to FINRA Corporate Financing Rules (April 29, 2014); FINRA Proposes Rule Change to Simplify and Refine the Scope of Corporate Financing Rules (January 9, 2014).