The SEC announced that Robert E. Plaze, the Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management, is retiring from public service at the end of August after almost 30 years at the SEC. View press release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

Request for No-Action Letter was submitted to enable Jeffrey A. Wolfson to maintain his capital in Sallerson, a registered broker-dealer of which Wolfson owned approximately 70%, even though Wolfson was subject to a bar against being associated with a broker-dealer for a one-year period. Wolfson had proposed to put his ownership interest in a blind trust. Although the Division did not grant the letter, the denial of the grant was only to the point that putting Wolfson's stock in a blind trust was not sufficient to demonstrate that Wolfson would not be associated with the broker-dealer going

ISE - Effective Immediately - Rule Change to Reformat the Schedule of Fees BOX - Effective Immediately - Rule Change to Amend the Fee Schedule for Trading on BOX

This final rule amends FDIC regulations to prohibit any insured savings association from acquiring or retaining a corporate debt security unless it determines, prior to acquiring such security and periodically thereafter, that the issuer has adequate capacity to meet all financial commitments under the security for the projected life of the investment. The clarifying revision addresses ambiguities in the proposed rule and harmonizes the final rule with the final rule adopted by the OCC regarding permissible investments for national banks. Effective Date: July 21, 2012 Cross-Reference(s)

The OCC, the Federal Reserve Board, and the FDIC recently announced the availability of the 2012 list of distressed or underserved nonmetropolitan middle-income geographies, in which bank revitalization or stabilization activities will receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) recognition as “community development.#8221;