The SEC announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia entered settled final judgments against Linda (Knudsen) Woolf and Hands on Capital, Inc. in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Linda Woolf, Hands on Capital, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 1:08cv235 (E.D. Va. filed March 11, 2008). Without admitting or denying the Commission's allegations, Woolf and Hands on Capital also consented to the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining them from future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and from receiving compensation for

The CFPB issued proposed clarifications to the 2013 Escrows Final Rule, as well as a more recent proposal to address questions regarding qualified mortgages and servicing. The recent proposal addresses five topics: Debt-to-income ratio; Contract variances and the temporary QM provision; Purchase, guarantee or insurability status and the temporary QM; No field preemption under Regulation X; and Small servicer exemption. Click here to view the proposed rule (links externally to CFPB website).

CFTC Chairman Gensler argued that not enough unsecured lending goes on between banks for "LIBOR" to be a genuine market-determined rate, and said that a substitute must be found. See : Remarks of Chairman Gary Gensler at London City Week on Benchmark Interest Rates. See also : Current Topics: LIBOR and Financial Benchmarks (a compilation of related news stories).

The CFTC and SEC (collectively, the "Commissions") are jointly issuing final rules and guidelines to require certain regulated entities to establish programs to address risks of identity theft. These rules and guidelines implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which amended the Fair Credit Reporting Act and directed the Commissions to adopt rules requiring entities that are subject to the Commissions' respective enforcement authorities to address identity theft. First, the rules require financial institutions and creditors to develop and implement a written identity theft prevention

The addendum to the "IOSCO Report on Investigating and Prosecuting Market Manipulation" provides information with regards to current tools and research being utilized to prevent or detect market manipulation. The addendum discusses the problems of finding against market manipulators using high-speed technology, and discusses some of the issues and considerations relating to cross-border cooperation. Some of the regulatory tools, and the "problems" with these tools ( e.g., expense), that the report suggests are listed below: Recordkeeping obligations that require retention of audio tapes, in