On Feb. 25, 2013, the CFTC received notice from ICE Clear Credit LLC that it has begun offering customer clearing of the iTraxx CDS indices which are subject to the clearing requirement under Rule 50.4(b) and Section 2(h) of the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA"). In accordance with the timeframe previously set forth by the Commission in a final rulemaking, Clearing Requirement Determination under Section 2(h) of the CEA, 77 FR 74284, 74319-21 (December 13, 2012), the following compliance dates shall apply to the clearing of these iTraxx swaps (in accordance with CFTC Rule 50.25): • Category 1

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is conducting its Part II Hearing on FHA's Financial Condition and Program Challenges. The witnesses will be: Mr. Gary Thomas, President, National Association of Realtors; The Honorable Phillip L. Swagel, Professor in International Economic Policy at the Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland; Ms. Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute; and The Honorable David H. Stevens, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mortgage Bankers Association. Additional witnesses may be announced. Click here for more information

SIFMA submitted a comment letter to the SEC on its proposed rules on "Capital, Margin, and Segregation Requirements for Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Security-Based Swap Participants and Capital Requirements for Broker-Dealers." SIFMA emphasized the following recommendations to the SEC:(i) the capital requirements are too high in light of both market and credit risks; (ii) the rule discourages security-based swap dealers ("dealers") from allowing the use of tri-party custodians by their customers; (iii) the liquidity requirements in the rule will be extremely burdensome; (iv) the SEC

The SEC charged an investment adviser located in the U.S. Virgin Islands with defrauding clients from whom he withheld the fact that he was receiving kickbacks for investing their money in thinly traded companies. View Order in full here (links externally to SEC website). See also: Press Release

The Federal Reserve Board ("FRB") has extended, from March 31st, 2013 to April 30th, the comment period on a proposed rule to implement the enhanced prudential standards and early remediation requirements established under sections 165 and 166 of the Dodd-Frank Act for foreign banking organizations and foreign nonbank financial companies supervised by the FRB. The enhanced prudential standards include risk-based capital and leverage requirements, liquidity standards, risk management and risk committee requirements, single-counterparty credit limits, and stress test requirements. View Release