Legal/Regulatory Proposals Open For Comment
Last Update: May 2, 2008
This chart lists regulatory items that are currently open for comment and as to which SIFMA is considering or plans to file a comment letter. It is updated approximately once a month. The chart may not capture all matters as to which SIFMA files comment letters, and it does not reflect many other regulatory matters on which SIFMA is engaged apart from the notice and comment process.
Regulatory Proposal |
Regulator |
SIFMA Staff Contact Information |
SIFMA Committees and Divisions Involved |
Deadlines |
SIFMA amicus brief: In re Bear Stearns Litigation The amicus issue is whether an injunction designed to prevent the merger of JP Morgan and Bear Stearns would harm the public interest because a collapse of Bear Stearns would have severe negative consequences for the nation’s financial markets and the economy as a whole. |
Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York |
Kevin Carroll |
Litigation Advisory Committee |
Due Date: April 30, 2008 |
Proposal Regarding New Issue Syndicate Participation and Customer Privacy Concerns The MSRB has requested comment on whether certain provisions of Rule G-11 raise privacy concerns for dealers participating in a new issue syndicate. In addition, the MSRB has filed technical amendments with the SEC to Rules G-11 and G-12 to consolidate the syndicate practice provisions into Rule G-11. |
MSRB |
Leslie Norwood |
|
Due Date: May 2, 2008 |
Foreign Issuer Reporting Enhancements |
SEC |
Amal Aly |
|
Due Date: May 12, 2008 |
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In an open meeting on March 4, 2008, the Commission voted yes to publishing proposed amendments to Regulation S-P, which governs the privacy of consumer |
SEC |
Alan Sorcher |
|
Due Date: May 12, 2008 |
Tax treatment of prepaid forward contracts and similar arrangements |
IRS
|
Patti McClanahan
|
Federal Taxation Committee
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Due Date: May 13, 2008
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SR-FINRA-2008-011: OTC Trade Reporting Rule Proposal FINRA recently filed this rule proposal, following up on its suggestions and requests for comment in FINRA RN 2007-46. SIFMA firms provided comments on the RN and have just started to review this new proposal. |
FINRA |
Ann Vlcek |
Equity Markets |
Due Date: May 15, 2008 |
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The Securities and Exchange Commission is reproposing amendments to Part 2 of Form ADV, and related rules under the Investment Advisers Act, to require investment advisers registered with us to deliver to clients and prospective clients a brochure written in plain English. These amendments are designed to require advisers to provide clients and prospective clients with clear, current, and more meaningful disclosure of the business practices, conflicts of interest (including those related to soft dollar practices), and background of investment advisers and their advisory personnel. |
SEC |
Mike Udoff |
|
Due Date: May 16, 2008 |
SEC Short Sale Proposal |
SEC |
Amal Aly |
Reg SHO Steering Committee |
Due Date: May 20, 2008 |
SIFMA amicus brief: Brown v. Wells Fargo The amicus issue is whether Wells Fargo entered into a fiduciary relationship with the Browns; whether Wells Fargo breached their alleged fiduciary duty by failing to advise the Browns about a standard arbitration clause in the brokerage agreement; and whether the standard arbitration clause is unconscionable. |
Court of Appeals of the State of California, Second Appellate District |
Kevin Carroll |
Litigation Advisory Committee; Arbitration Committee |
Due Date: May 22, 2008 |
Options Communications with the Public FINRA is proposing to amend NASD Rule 2220 (Options Communications with the Public), to better address current needs for regulating options |
FINRA |
Amal Aly Melissa MacGregor |
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Due Date: May 23, 2008 |
FINRA Requests Comments on Proposed Changes to Forms U4 and U5 |
FINRA |
Amal Aly |
|
Due Date: May 27, 2008 |
Proposal to Require Trade Reporting for Proprietary Desk Transactions The MSRB has published a notice seeking comment on whether a dealer’s proprietary desk transactions should be reported to the Real-time Transaction Reporting System as customer transactions under Rule G-14. |
MSRB |
Leslie Norwood |
|
Due Date: May 30, 2008 |
Extension of Optional Practical Training Visa Time Period Department of Homeland Security has published an interim final rule extending the Optional Practical Training ("OPT") visa time period from 12 months to 29 months but has limited the extension to students with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) degrees who are employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verify program. SIFMA has been advocating for this extension as part of a broader visa reform effort seeking to facilitate movement and immigration of highly skilled workers. The rule has a 60 day comment period and SIFMA is planning to comment. Although SIFMA supports extension of the OPT time period, it may comment on two aspects of the anticipated proposal: (1) limiting the category of degree holders will limit the usefulness of the OPT extension for the securities industry; and (2) requiring participation in e-verify program is controversial because it is reportedly not very accurate since it is based on limited information. |
Department of Homeland Security |
Diana Preston |
International Committee |
Due Date: June 9, 2008 |
Regulations Pertaining to Mergers, Acquisitions, and Takeovers by Foreign Persons Department of the Treasury has published a proposed rule to implement amendments made by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 (FINSA). The proposed regulations provide an update to regulations issued in 1991 that govern the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and its process for national security review of certain foreign investments in U.S. businesses. SIFMA is reviewing the rule and expects to comment on the rule proposal. |
Department of the Treasury |
Diana Preston |
International Committee |
Due Date: June 9, 2008 |
Public Consultation on Possible changes to the Capital Requirements Directive |
EC |
Bertie Huet |
|
Due Date: June 16, 2008 |
European Parliament report on Hedge Funds and Private Equity The report calls for separate EU legislative initiatives structured around four separate themes: Financial Stability and Better Functioning Financial Markets Measures; Transparency Measures; Excessive Debt Measures; and Conflicts of Interest Measures |
European Parliament |
Bertie Huet |
Government Relations |
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European Parliament report on the future structure of supervision In light of recent market events which raised concerns about Europe’s ability to effectively supervise cross-border banks in a crisis situation, the EU parliament has issued a Working Document to stimulate debate about the architecture of supervision in Europe, and proposing 5 options for consideration: (1) Improvements within the present fragmented structure based around the 3 Level 3 (3L3) committees (CESR – securities , CEBS- banking, CEIOPS – insurance); (2) Transforming the L3Committees into EU regulatory agencies; (3) EU System of supervisors with a two-tier supervisory system (a pan-EU structure for prudential supervision of the major cross-border financial groups, on top of but closely linked to the existing system of cooperating national supervisors); (4) Single EU Supervisor covering all financial services sectors (capital markets, securities, insurance and banking); (5) EU Financial Oversight Authority, as per the Supervisory Oversight Body being discussed in the US (main focus of this Oversight Authority would be to assess systemic risks for the stability of the EU economy) |
European Parliament |
Bertie Huet |
Government Relations |
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NYSE Rule 92 (1) SIFMA requested that NYSE make further clarifications re: its recent amendments to Rule 92, as well as extend the May 14, 2008 implementation deadline. NYSE just extended the deadline until March 2009 and will continue to work with firms on addressing interpretive and systems issues. . NYSE should post an announcement on this decision shortly. |
NYSE and FINRA |
Ann Vlcek |
Equity Markets and Trading Comm.; Ad Hoc NYSE Rule 92/Manning Harmonization Working Group |
Due Date March 2009 |
Options Exchanges Working with options exchanges to create and unified quality of execution reporting standard. |
Options Exchanges |
Melissa MacGregor |
Options Committee |
Due Date: No Deadline |
Proposed Rule to Amend Certain NYSE Rules to Reduce Regulatory Duplication and Conflicting or Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens on Dual Members |
FINRA |
Amal Aly |
|
Due Date: Not yet published in the Federal Register |
Mutual Recognition and Amendment of Securities Exchange Act Rule 15a-6 Anticipated that the SEC will publish rule proposals for comment that would: (1) establish a framework to enable broker-dealers and exchanges operating cross-border to rely on home country regulation rather than be subject to duplicative regulatory requirements; and (2) amend Securities Exchange Act Rule 15a-6 to provide sophisticated investors with assets below $100 million with direct access to foreign broker-dealers. SIFMA has been advocating for these rules and, in particular, for the amendment to Rule 15a-6 since that can be accomplished in the near term. The SEC has announced that it has begun formal discussions with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission to develop a mutual recognition arrangement for the two nations’ securities markets and outlined its other steps for implementation of a mutual recognition concept (including reform of Rule 15a-6), but has not committed to a timetable. SIFMA expects to comment on the rule proposals when they are published and in the meantime to continue efforts to remind the SEC that the industry is interested in moving the proposals forward (i.e., including providing information the SEC recently requested to support the Paperwork Reduction Act section of the back-end of the Rule 15a-6 rule proposal). In Europe, SIFMA is similarly advocating a broader exemption regime across Europe, whilst supporting progress on EU-US discussions to enter into a mutual recognition framework by year end. |
SEC |
Diana Preston Bertie Huet |
International Committee |
Due Date: Not yet published in the Federal Register |
Regulatory Proposal SIFMA will be seeking exemptive relief from Treasury for SIFMA’s soon to be published “Buyin Procedures for Government Securities”, particularly the cash settlement feature of those procedures. |
Treasury |
Rob Toomey |
Government Division Executive Committee, Government Division Legal and Compliance Committee |
Due Date: No Deadline |
SR-FINRA-2008-011: OTC Trade Reporting Rule Proposal FINRA recently filed this rule proposal, following up on its suggestions and requests for comment in FINRA RN 2007-46. SIFMA firms provided comments on the RN and have just started to review this new proposal. |
FINRA |
Ann Vlcek
|
Equity Markets and Trading Committee |
Not yet published in FR. |
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NYSE proposes to amend Rule 343 to eliminate the requirement for Exchange approval of branch office space sharing arrangements but requires that reasonable steps be taken to ensure customers are clear as to the entity with which they are dealing
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NYSE |
Amal Aly |
Self Regulation and Supervisory Practices Committee |
Not yet published in Federal Register |
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FINRA proposes to amend NASD Rules 1021 and 1031 to permit members to maintain the registrations of those persons whose association with such members is for bona fide business purposes, provided that such persons pass the appropriate, qualifying examination requirements, or a re granted an exemption from such requirements.
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FINRA |
Amal Aly |
Self Regulation and Supervisory Practices Committee |
Not yet published in Federal Register |
Books and Records Relief for Subscription-Way Accounts A draft request for no-action relief from the books and records-keeping requirements of Rule 17a-3(a)17, as it relates to investments sold on a subscription-way basis, was submitted to the SEC Division of Market Regulation
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SEC |
Rob Gannon |
Books and Records Working Group |
No Due Date |
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The European Commission (EC) has asked the EU asset-backed securities industry to come up with detailed proposals to improve transparency in the sector. The ESF is coordinating these proposals and has put together a working group, consisting of senior market participants and several trade associations. The group submitted written commitments to the EC on 8 Feb in three areas regarding transparency a) disclosure under CRD (led by EBF and LIBA) b) industry data report and c) data provided to investors (ESF/SIFMA is leading b) and c)). The workplan for b) and c) consists of a number of workstreams, including currrent and recommended disclosure practices, data availability, global standardized definitions, industry guidelines for transparency and disclosure, investor industry guidelines, industry data transparency and the legal issues involved. The EC is due to report to ECOFIN in early April 2008.
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EC |
Rick Watson Marco Angheben +44 (0) 2077439335 |
Various representatives from all Committees |
Timeline: Due to hear from EC in early April 2008 |
Trade Reporting of Foreign Securities SIFMA is seeking exemptive language for class of transactions on an amendment to NASD Rule 6620 that purports to provide guidance concerning trade reporting obligations for transactions in foreign securities and American Depository Receipts.
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NASD |
Rob Toomey |
Interdealer Broker Advisory Committee |
No Due Date |
Nasdaq Sponsored Access Agreements SIFMA raised several concerns with Nasdaq’s recent proposal, prompting delays in its implementation (most recently until mid April, 2008). Discussions with Nasdaq are on-going.
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Nasdaq |
Ann Vlcek |
Equity Markets and Trading Committee |
Not yet published in the Federal Register |
SEC Roundtable re Private Securities Litigation The SEC is expected to hold a roundtable in 1st quarter 2008 on the topic of shareholder litigation with a view towards recommending realistic alternatives and improvements to our current system. SIFMA’s objective is to ensure that our members and our views are fairly and adequately represented in these discussions, and that we help to shape the recommendations that flow from the roundtable discussions. |
SEC |
Kevin Carroll |
Litigation Advisory Committee; Arbitration Committee |
Due Date: To be determined |
H.R. 3010 / S. 1752 (Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007) These bills would effectively abolish pre-dispute arbitration agreements, undermine arbitration generally as a dispute resolution forum, and specifically undermine securities arbitration, which has a proven track record of outstanding service to investors. SIFMA’s objective is to defeat this legislation by, among other things: working closely with the Chamber’s arbitration coalition; offering witnesses and introducing documentary evidence at hearings on these bills; promoting favorable press coverage of securities arbitration; and countering negative publicity with current empirical evidence and historical fact that support securities arbitration. |
SEC/FINRA |
Kevin Carroll |
Arbitration Committee |
Ongoing |
This chart lists regulatory items that are currently open for comment and as to which SIFMA is considering or plans to file a comment letter. It is updated approximately once a week. The chart may not capture all matters as to which SIFMA files comment letters, and it does not reflect many other regulatory matters on which SIFMA is engaged apart from the notice and comment process.