The Government Accountability Office ("GAO") released a report as to the processes in place when 401(k) plan participants separate from their employers and must decide what to do with their plan savings. The report expressed concern that participants may be encouraged to choose rollovers to IRAs in lieu of options that could be more in their interests. The GAO found that waiting periods to roll into a new employer plan, complex verification procedures to ensure savings are tax-qualified, wide divergences in plans' paperwork, and inefficient practices for processing rollovers are some factors

FINRA released its monthly podcast for March 2013. See the outline below. Regulatory Notices Notice 1310: the SEC approved a supplemental FOCUS schedule, which applies to carrying and clearing firms; Notice 1311: FINRA waived continuing membership application fees for minor changes if they are withdrawn within 30 days of filing; and Notice 1312: changes to Regulation NMS go into effect on April 8 th, which changes existing FINRA rules. Education FINRA will host a webinar on rulemaking on April 23 rd and encourages registered representatives to submit questions that will be answered during the

The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued a no-action letter for all end-users, allowing them not to report under Part 45 of the CFTC’s regulations, as applicable, commodity trade options (as defined in Part 32), provided that the non-SD/MSP (1) reports such transactions pursuant to Form TO and (2) notifies DMO if it transacts in excess of $1 billion notional value of trade options in any calendar year. Significantly, market participants that wish to rely on the relief must notify DMO within 30 days after the notional value of their CTOs exceeds $1 billion during a calendar year

The SEC has issued an order further extending the compliance date to November 1, 2013, with respect to the so-called Phase Two broker-dealer recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring requirements of the Large Trader Rule: Rule 13h-1 of the Exchange Act. The original compliance date for the broker-dealer recordkeeping, reporting and monitoring requirements of Rule 13h-1 was April 30, 2012. In granting additional time to comply with these requirements, the SEC adopted a two-phase approach. The first phase (Phase One), which had a November 30, 2012, compliance date, was limited to the provision by

In anticipation of U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew's upcoming visits with European finance officials, SIFMA submitted the attached comments to Secretary Lew raising a number of financial regulatory, tax and trade issues between the EU and U.S. In the letter, SIFMA highlights four main areas of concern, including: The extraterritorial nature of the European Union's and member states' Financial Transaction Tax programs; The divergence from Basel III in the EU's implementation of CRD IV related to the Credit Valuation Adjustments ("CVA"); The lack of progress by the EU on cross-border