SIFMA announced that SIFMA's Asset Management Group (AMG), working in collaboration with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), has helped to develop a new interest rate swap (IRS) contract structure with pre-defined, market-agreed terms. Specifically, SIFMA AMG published a term sheet and rationale for a new Market Agreed Coupon (MAC) contract that would promote liquidity and enhance transparency in IRS trading. The proposed MAC contracts are a set of defined IRS contract specifications, including start and end dates and fixed coupon rates, which will be available for use

House Financial Services Chairman, Jeb Hensarling, announced this week that the committee cannot legally accept testimony from Richard Cordray on the CFPB semi-annual report until he is legally installed as the CFPB Director. Chairman Hensarling explains in the webcast why the committee cannot receive the CFPB's semi-annual report from Cordray. Click here to view Chairman Hensarling's video. Related News : "House Financial Services Committee Refuses to Hear Testimony from Richard Cordray" (April 24, 2013).

SIFMA submitted comments and a Petition for Disapproval to the SEC on Nasdaq's proposal to increase certain of its market data fees. Since SIFMA believes NASDAQ's actions are inconsistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NetCoalition v. SEC, it is petitioning the SEC to suspend temporarily and institute proceedings to disapprove the rule change . Click here to view letter in full (links externally to SIFMA website).See the NASDAQ Proposal that is the subject of the objection: Immediately Effective Proposed Rule Change to Extend Fee

The SEC announced fraud charges against a Spokane Valley, WA, company and its owner for misleading investors with claims of raising billions of dollars of investment capital under the JOBS Act and investing it exclusively in American businesses. According to the SEC's complaint filed in federal court in Spokane, Daniel F. Peterson and his company, USA Real Estate Fund 1, sold common stock in USA Real Estate Fund from November 2010 to June 2012 to more than 20 investors in Washington and at least five other states. In the e-mails and periodic e-newsletters which he used to solicit USA Real

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler provided the statement linked below in support of the Financial Stability Oversight Council's ("FSOC") annual report and recommendations. In his statement, he asserted the following: "There are two critical areas . . . in which the CFTC must complete reforms. First, it is a priority to finish rules to promote pre-trade transparency, including those for swap execution facilities and the block rule for swaps. Second, it's a priority that the Commission, working with domestic and international regulators, complete guidance on the cross-border application of swaps market