The Financial Services Authority has published its latest update on the anticipated transition of powers to the Prudential Regulatory Authority on April 1, 2013. The document consists of a series of updates on issues such as authorizations and transitional arrangements, the new authority's expected approach to supervision of regulated entities, changes to policy, and fees and costs.

The Financial Services authority has published guidance for firms who will be affected by notifications or clearing exemptions under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. Note that (i) notifications for non-financial counterparties exceeding the clearing threshold and (ii) monthly reporting of outstanding transactions by financial counterparties will become active from March 15, 2013.

Following the decision of the Italian Consob to temporarily prohibit the short selling of shares in Banco Popolare, Mediolanum, Banca Carige and Intesa, the FSA has decided to prohibit the short selling of these shares on UK trading venues as of February 27, 2013. The FSA has justified this decision as an attempt to prevent both disorderly falls in the prices of these shares and additional significant price falls in the wake of inconclusive election results in Italy.

The Financial Services Authority has invited all firms which trade any form of derivative to attend a breakfast seminar at its offices in London on April 11, 2013, for more information on reporting to trade repositories under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The presentation will cover issues such as details of the reporting requirements, examples of trading scenarios, and how reporting to trade repositories should be carried out. It will also give participants the opportunity to raise any questions they may have for the regulator.

The OCC and the Federal Reserve Board released amendments to their enforcement actions against 13 mortgage servicers for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing. These amendments require the servicers to provide $9.3 billion in payments and other assistance to borrowers, and memorialize agreements in principle announced in January with Aurora, Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, Morgan Stanley, PNC, Sovereign, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo. The amount includes $3.6 billion in cash payments, as well as $5.7