A Delegated Regulation correcting the Regulation on notification of significant net short positions in sovereign debt (which supplements the Short Selling Regulation) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The amended article of the Regulation originally only referred to the notification threshold on significant net short positions in shares, but should also have referred to the notification threshold on significant net short positions in sovereign debt. The correcting Delegated Regulation rectifies this omission, to avoid legal uncertainty. The Delegated Regulation enters into force on February 12, 2015.

View the Delegated Regulation.

The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change published its response to the consultation to strengthen the regulation of wholesale energy markets through criminal offences together with draft legislation to implement new criminal sanctions for insider dealing and market manipulation. The new sanctions will give more power to the relevant regulators (in Great Britain, Ofgem and in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation) to address market abuse in the wholesale energy markets. The new powers implement the EU Regulation on Energy Market Integrity and Transparency requirement for Member States to create penalties for breach of REMIT that are proportionate, effective and dissuasive. REMIT applies to spot trading in the electricity and natural gas market. The DECC consider that criminal sanctions are more dissuasive than civil sanctions alone. UK legislation implementing the civil sanction regime came into force on June 29, 2013. The DECC acknowledges that it may be necessary to review the UK criminal sanctions regime to align the penalties with UK financial markets legislation for similar offences.

View the DECC response.

View the draft legislation.

The Financial Conduct Authority issued its Finalized Guidance on retail investment advice, which aims to explore and clarify the barriers and boundaries affecting market development. The guidance follows on from the FCA's two consultations on the topic and focuses on what may constitute a personal recommendation for retail investments. The guidance also discusses how firms should communicate with customers so that required information is passed on to customers in an accessible and understandable format, and deals with the concept of regulated advice, generic advice, focused advice and personal advice, and well as what amounts to investment advice under Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.

View the Finalized Guidance.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Norm Champ, Director of the Division of Investment Management, will leave later this month after five years serving in senior leadership positions.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced following appointments to its Board of Directors:
 

• Emily K. Rafferty, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been re-appointed a Class C director.
• Paul P. Mello, president and chief executive officer of Solvay Bank, has been re-elected a Class A director representing Group 3 which consists of banks with capital and surplus of less than $30 million.
• Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc., has been re-elected by the Group 3 shareholders as a Class B director representing the interests of the public.

The OCC issued the "Litigation and Other Legal Matters" booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook which replaces the booklet of the same title issued in February 2000. The revised booklet provides guidance to examiners assessing a bank’s litigation exposures, associated risks, and risk management practices.

View the booklet titled "Litigation and Other Legal Matters".

A consultation paper was published setting out proposals to reform the UK financial services trade association landscape. The proposals emerge from a steering committee set up to assess the UK trade association framework. The steering committee is made up of ten retail and commercial banks in the UK — Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking group, Nationwide Building Society, Santander UK, The Co-operative bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB Bank and Virgin Money. The key proposal is for a single trade association representing the payments, mortgage, retail, wealth, SME and commercial banking sectors to be formed to ensure more effective and efficient service to the industry. Trade associations that would contribute to this effort include the Asset Based Finance Association, Association for Financial Markets in Europe, British Bankers’ Association, Council of Mortgage Lenders, Finance & Leasing Association, Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, Investment Management Association, Payments Council, Tax Incentivized Savings Association, TheCityUK, UK Cards Association and Wealth Management Association. Responses to the consultation are due by April 10, 2015 following which recommendations and a proposed action plan for implementing the changes will be published. A final recommendation is expected in May 2015.

View the consultation paper.

The SEC announced that beginning on February 14, 2015, the rates applicable to most securities transactions will be set at $18.40 per million dollars. Each self-regulatory organization will continue to pay the SEC a rate of $22.10 per million for transactions occurring on charge dates through February 13, 2015 and will begin paying the new quoted rate on charge dates on or after February 14, 2015. The assessment on security futures transactions will remain unchanged at $0.0042 for each round turn transaction.

View the SEC order.

The FDIC announced the appointment of Charles Yi as the agency’s new general counsel.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued the "Retail Nondeposit Investment Products" booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook which replaces a similarly titled booklet issued in February 1994. This revised booklet provides updated guidance to examiners on national banks and federal savings associations regarding the recommendation or sale of nondeposit investment products to retail customers. It includes an overview of bank delivery channels and the regulatory structure and requirements supplementary with banks offering these products. The revised booklet describes the risks inherent in offering such products and offers a framework for managing such risks.

The OCC issued the "Conflicts of Interest" booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook which replaces a booklet of the same title issued in June 2000. This booklet has been revised to include the supervision of federal savings associations and includes updated guidance for examiners on risks and expected controls over conflicts of interest that may arise in asset management activities. The booklet explains the risks inherent in such conflicts and provides a structure for managing those risks.

View the booklet titled "Retail Nondeposit Investment Products".

View the booklet titled "Conflicts of Interest".
 

The UK Payment Systems Regulator announced three new senior appointments: Carole Begent as head of legal from April 1, 2015; Mark Falcon as head of regulatory policy and strategy from March 2, 2015; and Louise Buckley as head of stakeholder engagement and communications from January 26, 2015.

The UK Banking Standards Review Council appointed Alison Cottrell as its first Chief Executive from April 2015.

The SEC named Walter Jospin Regional as Director of its Atlanta Office.

The Federal Reserve Board appointed Thomas Laubach as director of the Division of Monetary Affairs.

The FDIC named Michael J. Dean as Atlanta Regional Director.

The FDIC issued a list of state non-member banks which were evaluated for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. The list relates to evaluation ratings that the FDIC assigned to institutions in October 2014. All of the banks rated received either satisfactory or outstanding ratings. The CRA was instituted in 1977 in order to encourage insured banks and thrifts to meet local credit needs, including those of low-income neighborhoods. Included in the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, Congress mandated that the public disclosure of the results of each bank and thrift that undergoes a CRA examination.

View the monthly list of banks examined for CRA compliance.

View the January 2015 list of banks examined for CRA compliance.

The SEC introduced a pilot program intended to simplify investor analysis and comparisons of public company financial statement data. The new program will organize data provided by companies into structured data sets which can be used for bulk downloads on the SEC’s website by investors. The SEC anticipates that such data sets will be expanded in 2015 to contain data in footnotes to the financial statements.

View examples of financial statement structured data sets.