Thomas M. Hoenig, Vice Chairman of the FDIC, gave a speech touting the benefits of changing the structure of the U.S. financial system so that complex financial firms would be separated along business lines and into separate corporate entities. He criticized the broad expansion of the U.S. financial safety net in the years preceding the recent crisis, arguing that its effect was to erode economic stability rather than promote it. Hoenig then characterized the regulatory response to the financial crisis, including the reforms mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, as "complicated administration"

The CFTC announced that its members have unanimously elected Commissioner Mark P. Wetjen to serve as Acting Chairman upon the end of Chairman Gary Gensler's service. Wetjen was sworn in as a Commissioner of the CFTC in October 2011. Prior to his CFTC service, he worked in the U.S. Senate as a senior leadership staffer, advising on all financial-services-related matters. Before his service in the Senate, Wetjen was a lawyer in private practice. Lofchie Comment : The new acting Chairman is in a difficult position. Many who participate in the financial markets and navigate the CFTC's rules view

The Senate Finance Committee approved John Koskinen's nomination to be Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), Sarah Bloom Raskin's nomination to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Department, and Rhonda Schnare Schmidtlein's nomination to be a member of the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC"). All three were approved by voice vote. See: Press Release.

Quen Huynh, attorney advisor for the Treasury Office of International Tax Counsel, spoke at a global information reporting panel in Washington D.C., stating that the July 1, 2014 effective date for withholding and new account procedures will not be postponed. Ms. Huynh said that there will be "no consideration of an additional delay," although "there is some transitional relief with respect to existing accounts." She also noted that final regulations have provisions that give institutions two years to document preexisting accounts. When asked about relaxing withholding rules in jurisdictions

The National Futures Association ("NFA") submitted to the CFTC proposed amendments to two of NFA's Interpretive Notices entitled NFA Compliance Rule 2-10: The Allocation of Bunched Orders for Multiple Accounts and NFA Compliance Rule 2-10: The Allocation of Bunched Retail Forex Orders for Multiple Accounts. See: Text of Proposed Amendments.