Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote an open letter to CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler to review what her press release said were recent allegations in press reports as to possible manipulation of the markets for Renewable Identification Numbers ("RINs"). RINs are the primary tracking mechanisms used to ensure that petroleum blenders and refiners meet their requirements under the Renewable Fuels Standard. In her letter, Senator Stabenow noted her concern that a lack of transparency in these markets has made them more susceptible to manipulation. She

ISDA and Markit launched the ISDA Cross-Border Swap Representation Letter on ISDA Amend. The Cross-Border Letter allows market participants to provide counterparties with representations for U.S. persons status to determine whether compliance with various swap regulations is required by the CFTC's Interpretive Guidance. ISDA and Markit made the representations found in the Cross-Border Swaps Representation Letter available via ISDA Amend. The substantive representations on ISDA Amend are identical to ISDA's letter. See : ISDA Press Release. Related News : CFTC Exemptive Order for Certain Swap

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB") issued two interim final rules intended to clarify how companies should incorporate the Basel III regulatory capital reforms into their capital and business projections during the next cycle of capital plan submissions and stress tests. Rules to implement the Basel III capital reforms were finalized in July, and will be phased in beginning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the size of each banking organization. The FRB's first interim final rule applies to bank holding companies with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets, and

The SEC charged two former bank executives with failing to recognize in financial statements a probable loss on one of the bank's largest troubled loans. The SEC alleged that, prior to the end of the third quarter in 2010, one of the executives knew that the borrower in a shared national credit loan for a large residential real estate development which was to be built in Colorado Springs was unwilling or unable to contribute the necessary funds to complete the project, which served as collateral for the loan. According to the SEC, the executive also knew that the collateral had declined

The Managed Funds Association ("MFA") submitted a letter to the SEC regarding the SEC's proposed amendments to Securities Act Regulation D, Form D, and Rule 506. In the letter, MFA asserted that many of the proposed amendments are duplicative and unnecessary in light of the existing information and regulatory oversight of the private funds advised by SEC-registered advisers and their activities. The letter recommended that certain changes be made to the proposed amendments that would enable regulators to monitor general solicitation activities while ensuring that firms were able to avail