The United Kingdom and the United States have entered into an Exchange of Notes agreeing to replace Annex II to the FATCA Intergovernmental Agreement ("IGA"). The IGA was originally entered into between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 12, 2012, and was the first IGA signed by the United States. Annex II lists the institutions and accounts that the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to treat as "exempt beneficial owners" or "deemed-compliant" financial institutions and products that are exempt from all or most of the reporting and other requirements under

The ISDA announced the publication of Additional Provisions relating to Credit Derivative Transactions with a Restricted Delivery Party where Physical Settlement applies. The Additional Provisions are for use where the settlement method is physical settlement and one of the two conditions applies: Either party to the Credit Derivative Transaction is restricted from holding a Loan; or There is a limit on the outstanding principal balance of a Bond which it may hold. See: ISDA News Release.

SEC Chairman Mary Jo White testified regarding the $1.674 billion SEC budget request for the coming fiscal year. She highlighted the following critical areas as top priorities and important drivers of the SEC budget: The completion of the rulemaking mandates contained in Dodd-Frank and the JOBS Act; Strengthening the core enforcement and examination functions of the SEC; and Better positioning the SEC to provide adequate oversight of today's highly complex and dispersed marketplace. White then discussed the budget request itself, explaining that the additional funding would be allocated

MFA submitted the attached letter to staff from the Division of Trading and Markets of the SEC providing detail on the legal segregation with operational commingling ("LSOC") model that the CFTC adopted as the baseline segregation model for cleared swaps. This letter is a follow-up to MFA's February 22, 2013, letter on the SEC's proposed capital, margin and segregation rules, in which the MFA recommended that the SEC adopt LSOC as the default segregation model for cleared security-based swaps. The letter touches upon the following: The general requirements of LSOC, The requirements for

Better Markets, Inc., on the one side, and a coalition involving the Edison Electric Institute, the Electric Power Supply Association and the CME Group, on the other, have filed opposing amicus briefs with the D.C. Court of Appeals in CFTC's appeal of a federal district court decision vacating its position limits rules issued under Dodd-Frank, ISDA v. CFTC, 887 F. Supp. 2d 259 (D.D.C. September 28, 2012). The Better Markets brief, which focuses on the cost-benefit requirement of CEA Section 15, argues that, although Section 15 requires the CFTC to "consider" the costs and benefits of proposed