The European Commission is seeking public views on a regime to govern the recovery and resolution of financial institutions other than banks. In recognizing that the difficulties of non-bank institutions have the potential to pose a threat to wider financial stability, the consultation paper asks for input on recovery and resolution tools for central counterparties, central securities depositories, insurance firms, and reinsurance firms. Responses to the consultation should be submitted by December 28, 2012. See also thisrelated news story: European Commission to Propose New Framework for Bank

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., and 52 Senators submitted a letter to the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke et al., requesting that federal banking officials consider community banks' ability to lend money when they consider proposed standards that could require banks to hold more capital. According to the Senators, the complex new rules in an international agreement on bank capital standard (i.e. Basel III) would add little value to community banks since community banks have little access to capital markets, and the proposed rules are so complex and expensive they could diminish lending

Rep. Baucus, a Republican who heads the House Financial Services Committee, published a survey that he has said demonstrated that banks (in response to the economic climate and the Dodd-Frank Act as well as the Durbin Amendment) have been forced to raise checking fees and, as a result, free checking with no minimum balance and no monthly fee is becoming increasingly rare. View release in full here (links externally to Financial Services Committee website).

The SEC charged four brokers who formerly worked on the cash desk at a New York-based broker-dealer with illegally overcharging customers $18.7 million by using hidden markups/markdowns and secretly keeping portions of profitable customer trades. According to the SEC's complaint, the brokers were employed at an interdealer broker firm. Cross-Reference(s): Securities Act Sec. 17(a); Exchange Act Sec. 10(b) and Rule 10b-5. View complaint in full here (links externally to SEC website). See also: Press Release

Four senior House Republicans sent a joint letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner in which they urged that the Secretary, in his role as Chairman of the Financial Stability Oversight Council ("FSOC"), cause the CFTC to delay the effectiveness of its swap rules past October 12. In the letter, the Representatives criticize the CFTC for failing to coordinate either with non-US regulators or with the SEC. The failure to coordinate with non-US regulators will be to the long-term detriment of US firms (in the view of the Representatives). In addition, the Representative say that the CFTC's failure to