The Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs conducted a hearing on "Wall Street Reform: Oversight of Financial Stability and Consumer and Investor Protections." The witnesses included: The Honorable Mary J. Miller, Daniel K. Tarullo, Martin J. Greunberg, Thomas J. Curry, Richard Cordray, Elisse B. Walter and Gary Gensler. Here were some of the main topics of coverage: State of Dodd-Frank Rulemaking: CFTC Chairman Gensler asserted that the CFTC has completed 80% of its rules. Mary Miller, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance U.S. Department of the Treasury, testified: "Efforts to repeal

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it has signed a non-reciprocal bilateral agreement with Switzerland to facilitate the implementation of FATCA. Switzerland is one of eight countries that have signed or initialed an intergovernmental agreement ("IGA") which helps to facilitate the effective and efficient implementation of FATCA. As anticipated, the Swiss IGA is based on the Model 2 Form of Agreement that was published by Treasury in November, with Swiss financial institutions reporting financial information directly to the U.S. The Swiss IGA is the first Model 2 Form IGA that

The GAO published a report which examined whether or not the Dodd-Frank Act will lower systemic risk and reduce the possibility or severity of a future crisis. The report proved largely inconclusive. According to the report, the increased regulation of complex financial instruments and the enhanced supervision over financial giants, with the possibility of liquidation if they pose a systemic risk, has led some experts to believe that Dodd-Frank will reduce the losses associated with a future crisis. Others, however, speculate that Dodd-Frank's effectiveness depends largely on the rulemaking of

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a hearing to evaluate the progress that U.S. regulators have made toward implementing various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Committee heard testimony from, among others, FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg; Federal Reserve Governor Daniel K. Tarullo; Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry; CFPB Director Richard Cordray; and Mary Miller, Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury. Governor Tarullo's testimony discussed both the Federal Reserve's recent regulatory activity and the agency's priorities for 2013. On

The Financial Services Authority has imposed a fine of pound;9.45 million on UBS in relation to the bank's failures in the sale of the AIG Enhanced Variable Rate Fund to nearly 2,000 of its high net worth customers.