The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the implementation of Dodd-Frank entitled "Oversight of Financial Stability and Data Security." The hearing included witnesses from the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the OCC, the SEC and the CFTC. Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) began the hearing by outlining the work that remains to be done in order to fully implement Dodd-Frank, including, among other things: (i) enhanced capital, leverage and liquidity rules for the largest banks; (ii) a new regulatory framework for non-bank financial companies designated as SIFIs;

The CFTC Division of Clearing and Risk ("DCR") issued a no-action letter stating that it will not take enforcement action against the Australian-based clearing organization ASX Clear Pty Limited ("ASXCLF") for failing to register as a derivatives clearing organization ("DCO") pursuant to CEA Section 5b(a) ("Derivatives Clearing Organizations"). According to the letter, ASXCLF will be permitted to clear Australian and New Zealand dollar-denominated interest rate swaps for the proprietary trades of qualified U.S. clearing participants and their parent entities and affiliates. Previously, ASXCLF

The SEC announced that it is adopting amendments to extend the expiration dates in its interim final rules (76 FR 40605), which provide exemptions for security-based swaps that, prior to July 16, 2011, were security-based swap agreements and are defined as "securities" under the Exchange Act and the Securities Act. Under the amendments, the expiration dates in the interim final rules will be extended from February 11, 2014, to February 11, 2017. The SEC noted further that, should it adopt rules relating to issues raised by the application of the Securities Act or the other federal securities

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced that it will hold an open session on February 6, 2014, to conduct a hearing on oversight of financial stability and data security. The following witnesses are scheduled to appear: Mary Miller, Undersecretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Daniel Tarullo, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Martin Gruenberg, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (view written testimony); Tom Curry, Comptroller of the Currency, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (view written testimony); Mary Jo White, Chair

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted a letter to the Cayman Islands Ministry of Financial Services in response to its consultation on beneficial ownership of Cayman Islands-Registered Companies. The consultation requests comment on, among other things, the implementation of a central registry of the beneficial ownership and control of companies in the Cayman Islands. In the letter, MFA explains that managers of Cayman Islands funds are already subject to regulatory regimes designed to provide international transparency and combat money laundering, and that managers will need to