Financial Services Authority February 9, 2011 Daniel Hassell, a senior interdealer broker at Vantage Capital Markets, was barred from working in regulated financial services by the FSA for acting in a significant influence role without its approval. Although Hassell was not a capital partner of the company, he generated around half of its revenue and received one third of the firm's profits, despite two applications for FSA authorisation of his role previously being rejected. The company had already been fined £700,000 in June 2010 in relation to Hassell's employment.

HM Treasury February 8, 2011 The Chancellor has announced an increase in the rate of the bank levy to be charged in 2011. This change will increase the revenue from the levy by £800m, to £2.5 billion. The Government had initially announced that a reduced rate of 0.05 per cent would apply in 2011, recognising the uncertain market conditions prevailing at the time. The Government no longer considers this necessary. From 1 March 2011 the rate of the levy will be 0.1 per cent for two months, to offset the lower rate of 0.05 per cent charged in January and February, before moving to 0.075 per cent

FINRA Regulatory Notice 11-08 February 10, 2011 As part of the process of developing a consolidated rulebook, FINRA is requesting comments on new rules to govern markups, markdowns, commissions and fees. New FINRA Rules 2121-23 would transfer, with "significant changes," NASD Rules 2430 and 2440, NASD IM-2440-1 and -2, and NYSE Rule 375. Among other things, the new rules would make the following changes: (1) Deletion of the "5% Policy." FINRA notes that the policy is outdated, as 5% is frequently an excessively high markup or markdown. Rather than propose a new percentage, FINRA sets forth a

News Article Reuters February 9, 2011 The European Union's executive is examining penalties on derivative trading, according to a document released on Wednesday, to force controls on the opaque sector that has been blamed for spiraling grain prices. Michel Barnier, the top EU official in charge of changing the rules of finance, wants to force curbs on a global market for derivatives. He announced possible penalties to force traders to keep extra capital if they do not route their business through central clearing houses, which connect traders, record their activity and step in if a deal breaks

News Article Reuters February 9, 2011 Tight deadlines in the U.S. financial reform law will force the CFTC to forge ahead with new rules for over-the-counter swaps without first putting key market definitions in place, Commissioner Michael Dunn said on Wednesday. "As we go through implementation of Dodd-Frank, really it is kind of a chicken-and-an-egg situation," Dunn told a Commodity Markets Council conference. "We're trying to get things out, but we really don't have the right nomenclature out there." This makes it difficult for participants to provide informed input on the rules that have