Comment Letter (SIFMA) SIFMA submitted comments to the SEC on a proposed rule that would extend temporary Rule 206(3)-3T under the Investment Advisers Act (IAA), for an additional two years beyond its scheduled expiration on Dec. 31, 2010. The rule establishes a means for broker-dealers to comply with § 206(3) of the IAA. SIFMA strongly favors an extension of Rule 206(3)-3T, arguing that the principal trading relief in the rule is more favorable to investors than dealings solely on an agency basis. SIFMA further suggests the rule should be made permanent and expanded, and reiterates its

News Article U.S. financial regulators, struggling for months with budgets unequipped to handle new responsibilities imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, will be forced to go another 10 weeks without a funding increase. Federal lawmakers agreed yesterday to fund the government at current levels through March 4, denying budget increases sought by the SEC and CFTC after the regulatory overhaul was enacted. Agreement on the stopgap funding measure came hours before the expiration of an earlier temporary spending bill. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has been lobbying lawmakers for the additional money

Commentary Analyzing Basel Committee on Banking Regulation's treatment of exposures to central counterparties, Professor Craig Pirrong observes that while CCPs went through the recent crisis relatively unscathed, relying on that historical fact to justify the expansion of CCPs, and implementing incentives to encourage that growth means that "the new CCPs will not be your grandfather's CCPs. They will be different-and far riskier. The incentive system will encourage the shifting of more risk, and more exotic and difficult to measure and manage risks onto CCPs." Contrary to the view of the CFTC

Directive 2010/73/EU of November 24, 2010, amending Directives 2003/71/EC on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading and 2004/109/EC on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market, has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on December 11, 2010. The Directive, amongst other things, increases the minimum denomination for exempt offerings in the EU from EUR 50,000 to EUR 100,000 (existing offerings are

Government bureaucrats are facing an unusual complaint: they are moving too quickly. "We have big staffs, but we are getting inundated and have started getting behind on trying to keep up with this stuff. . . The problem is there's one after another." said Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group. Spencer Bachus and Frank Lucas, Republicans who next year will chair the US House financial services and agriculture committees, respectively, have taken up industry concerns concerning the pace of rulemaking pursuant to Dodd-Frank, writing to regulators to say they may "consider delaying