The Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") announced that it is reviewing the CFTC's procedural requirements for requests involving interpretative, no-action and exemptive letters. Comments are due on April 7, 2014. See: 79 FR 12689.

The SEC issued a notice to extend the time period for SEC action, on the proposed rule change to amend FINRA's corporate financing rules, to simplify and refine the scope of the rules. The proposed rule change would amend FINRA Rule 5110("Corporate Financing Rule - Underwriting Terms and Arrangements") and Rule 5121("Public Offerings of Securities with Conflicts of Interest") to narrow the scope of certain definitions, modify the lock-up restrictions to exclude shares owned by an underwriter that are not considered "items of value," and limit certain information requirements to a

The IRS and the Treasury are not considering providing a grace period for penalties for failure to comply with FATCA, which begins on July 1, according to a Treasury official speaking at a recent conference. Quyen Huynh, an attorney-advisor in the Treasury's Office of International Tax Counsel, also repeated prior statements by the Treasury and IRS officials that the July 1 effective date of FATCA will not be delayed further despite the fact that the IRS has still not finalized several tax forms related to FATCA. At that same conference, the Treasury's International Tax Counsel Danielle Rolfes

The Isle of Man Counsel of Ministers has ratified the Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA") under FATCA that was signed by the Isle of Man and the United States on December 13, 2013. See generally: Cabinet FATCA Materials (accessible to Cabinet subscribers only). Related news: FATCA IGAs Signed by Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man (with Link to New FATCA Page) (December 13, 2013).

The IRS issued a new draft of Form 8966 to be used by foreign financial institutions and withholding agents to report account holder information under FATCA to the IRS. The draft form requires information about the account holder, its status under FATCA, account information and additional information with respect to account holders who are "Specified U.S. Persons." No instructions for this form have been released to date. The IRS also issued a draft of revised Form 1042-S which will be used by U.S. withholding agents and certain Foreign Financial Institutions to report payments to, and