In this testimony, Matthew Eichner (Deputy Director of the Fed's Division of Research and Statistics) covered the primary reasons why the smooth functioning and resiliency of the U.S. Tri-Party Repo Market is a priority of the Federal Reserve. Then, more generally, he addressed: Tri-party repos and the financial crisis; The efforts of the Tri-Party Repo Infrastructure Reform Task Force; Federal Reserve use of supervisory authorities; and The problem of Fire Sales. Eichner noted that the Federal Reserve believes supervisory efforts will yield substantial progress in "eliminating the reliance of

On August 6, 2012, the New York Department of Financial Services issued an Order against Standard Chartered Bank regarding its alleged failure to comply with OFAC requirements with respect to the processing of Iranian transactions during the period 2001 through 2010. The Order provides, inter alia, for a hearing to be held on August 15, 2012 to enable Standard Chartered Bank to respond to these allegations and demonstrate why its NY branch license should not be revoked.

The MFA submitted a comment letter to the ESMA in response to its Consultation Paper on “Draft Technical Standards for the Regulation of OTC Derivatives, CCPs and Trade Repositories.#8221; [SL Comment: For those interested in ongoing developments in the regulation of derivatives in Europe, a more interesting letter than the title might suggest.] The letter comments on a wide variety of topics relevant to the regulation of derivatives in the EU, topics such as the governance of clearing houses (the MFA favors end-user involvement), to the determination of margin requirements, to trade

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FIA Principal Traders Group and FIA European Principal Traders Association issued a joint statement on Friday in response to the disruptions that occurred in the U.S. equity markets on August 1. FIA expressed concern and noted that once it becomes clear what caused the problems at Knight Capital, the FIA will review their recommendations and amend if needed. Their statement cited how quickly the market punishes trading mistakes, and supported the need for market participants to work with regulators to minimize threats to market stability. View joint statement in full here (links externally to