Departing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner remarked on his experience working with President Obama during the financial crisis, and on the qualifications of nominee Jack Lew. SIFMA released the attached statement from President and CEO Tim Ryan upon President Obama's nomination of Jack Lew to be Secretary of the Treasury. See: Secretary Geithner's Remarks and SIFMA Statement. See also: Statement by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling; Statement by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus; Statement by Ranking Member of Senate Finance Committee Orrin Hatch.

As part of its series of Occasional Papers on financial regulation, the Financial Services Authority has published a paper on high-frequency trading and execution costs for institutional investors.The study examines periods of increased high-frequency trading following technology upgrades on the London Stock Exchange, and concludes that these increases are not associated with increased execution costs.

The Association of Corporate Treasurers, the UK professional body for corporate treasury, has published a briefing note to assist non-financial companies in understanding the implications of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). In particular, the note highlights that all non-financial counterparties will become subject to the EMIR requirements for prompt exchange of derivatives confirmations. Also, it notes that these counterparties will be required to report their transaction to a central database run by a registered trade repository.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") has adopted an #8220;Ability-to-Repay#8221; rule requiring mortgage lenders to make #8220;reasonable, good faith determinations#8221; that customers are able to repay loans, and establishing minimum requirements for making such determinations. These requirements include: Examining and documenting certain financial information; Evaluating and concluding, based on factors such as the consumer’s debt-to-income ratio, that the customer will be able to repay the loan; and Evaluating the consumer’s ability to repay based on the principal and interest

SIFMA has submitted comments to the SEC requesting an extension of the comment period for the SEC’s proposal on the capital, margin, and segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants. The letter presents several bases for an extension, including the complexity of the rules and providing market participants an opportunity to comment in light of Basel and IOSCO recommendations on margin that are expected to be published soon. Click here to view request in full (links externally to SIFMA website).