The IRS announced on Friday, December 13, that as scheduled, the IRS FATCA registration website will formally open on January 1, 2014. The website became operative on August 19, 2013 in order for Foreign Financial Institutions ("FFIs") to create accounts and enter registration information. Information entered into the website prior to January 1 is not considered final, and each FFI must re-visit the site after January 1 to finalize its registration and sign its FFI agreement if registering as a participating FFI. The IRS also announced that it anticipated that the final FFI agreement will be

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") announced the designation of the chairs and deputy chairs of each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks for 2014. Each Reserve Bank has a nine-member board of directors. The Board of Governors in Washington appoints three of these directors and each year designates one of its appointees as chair and a second as deputy chair. Cl ick here for a complete list of the various bank chairs and deputy chairs.

The Governments of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man announced on December 13, 2013 that they had each signed final IGAs with the United States. The texts of the IGAs were not immediately available, but each is anticipated to be a Model 1 type IGA with account information provided to the local government for transmittal to the United States. With these agreements, a total of 15 IGAs have been signed. See also : Information as to the Cabinet's New FATCA Page; Link to the FATCA Page.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued a final rule regarding the registration of municipal advisor. The final rule requires muni advisors that are banks to register with the SEC. The OCC stated that banks should analyze the application of the final rule to their operations. Banks meeting the "municipal advisor" definition must now file Form MA-T with the SEC, if they have not already done so, and are subject to a fiduciary duty standard with regard to any municipal entities they advise within the scope of the rule. Municipal advisors that register through Form MA-T under

The MSRB requested public comment on a proposal to require dealers to ensure that members of their staff primarily engaged in municipal securities business annually receive training in municipal securities. The proposed change to the continuing education requirements for dealers set out in MSRB Rule G-3 ("Classification of Principals and Representatives; Numerical Requirements; Testing; Continuing Education Requirements") would require a minimum of one hour of training focused on municipal securities for professionals primarily engaged in municipal securities activities. Currently, dealer