The IRS published a revised Form W-8BEN for use by individuals to establish that they are not U.S. persons and to claim certain treaty benefits. The form and accompanying instructions were modified to reflect reporting obligations under FATCA. Under FATCA, individuals can establish their status as non-U.S. persons by filing a Form W-8BEN with U.S. withholding agents, foreign financial institutions and Non-Financial Foreign Entities. Among other changes, the revised Form W-8BEN now requires individuals to report their date of birth. The IRS also issued a revised Form W-8ECI which is used by

The House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing titled "The Growth of Financial Regulation and Its Impact on International Competitiveness." The hearing discussed the cumulative impact of regulations on financial institutions offering products and services in the U.S. Additionally, the hearing reviewed the extent to which differences between domestic and foreign regulatory regimes make it more difficult for U.S. financial institutions to compete with non-U.S. firms and, in turn, decrease the attractiveness of U.S. financial markets. The following witnesses

CFTC Commissioner Scott O'Malia issued a statement of dissent which criticized both the CFTC's FY 2015 budget request and the agency itself for making "improbable funding requests" and underfunding technology. According to O'Malia, the CFTC failed to develop a strategic plan which included a technology and workforce investment program, thereby missing the statutory deadline for submitting the plan to the Obama Administration and Congress. O'Malia stated that the CFTC made "an unrealistic request for new staff and funding in this budget request without a firm understanding of its mission

A report from two academic professors, released by the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, found that SEC employees' hedge portfolios earn positive and economically significant abnormal returns. Shivaram Rajgopal of Emory University and Roger M. White of Georgia State University (the "researchers") used data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to investigate the trading strategies of the SEC's 3,500 employees during 2009-2011. The researchers found that the abnormal returns came from the selling, not buying, of stocks ahead of a decline in stock prices. They

The CFTC and FERC announced the initial transmission of market data under the recently adopted CFTC-FERC Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") for use in analyzing market activities and protecting market integrity. The agencies also announced the creation of a staff-level Interagency Surveillance and Data Analytics Working Group to coordinate information-sharing between the agencies and focus on data security, data sharing infrastructure and the use of analytical tools for regulatory purposes. As directed by Dodd-Frank, the CFTC and FERC entered into an MOU on January 2, 2014. According to the