The SEC Division of Investment Management issued a relatively standard no-action letter permitting the firm to continue to employ solicitors, notwithstanding the September 10 SEC Order imposing sanctions on the firm. View no-action letter and incoming letter here (links externally to SEC website).

In this letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, the IIB expressed its support of legislative alternatives to the Volcker Rule (Dodd-Frank Section 619). While expressing support for certain financial reforms ("increased transparency; stronger capital and liquidity st andards; and reduced risk to financial stability and to the taxpayer"), the IIB asserted that the U.S. and global economies would be damaged should the Volcker Rule be implemented. Lofchie Comment: The letter from IIB follows a recent letter from SIFMA which also asks that Volcker be revisited

The SEC adopted a rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act requiring companies to publicly disclose their use of conflict minerals that originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo or an adjoining country. Companies are required to disclose their use of conflict minerals that include tantalum, tin, gold or tungsten if the minerals are "necessary to the functionality or production of a product" and the company files reports with the SEC under the Exchange Act. The final rule requires a company to provide the disclosure on a new form (Form SD) to be filed with the SEC. Effective Date: November 13

The MSRB announced that it has enhanced the market statistics available on its EMMA website. The addition of monthly data on new issuance of municipal securities is part of an overall redesign of EMMA's Market Statistics section which includes information on the amount and volume of municipal market trading. View press release here (links externally to MSRB website).

The SEC is adopting new rules and an amendment to a new form pursuant to Dodd-Frank Section 1504 relating to the disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers. Section 1504 added Section 13(q) to the Exchange Act, which requires the SEC to issue rules requiring resource extraction issuers to include any annual report information relating to any payment made by the issuer, a subsidiary of the issuer, or an entity under the control of the issuer, to a foreign government or the Federal Government for the purpose of the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals. Section 13(q)