Financial Regulatory Forum

By Stuart Gittleman

NEW YORK, July 5 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will return its rulemaking and examination focus to retail sales of retirement products, a Division of Investment Management official told the Insured Retirement Institute, an industry group.

“[T]o better understand the impact of our regulations on market participants, we are working to staff a new examination function within the division, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act,” associate division director Susan Nash said at the IRI government, legal and regulatory conference last week. (more…)

By Martin Petty

BANGKOK, Feb 17 (Reuters) – While the threat of political unrest has put Thailand’s markets on edge, a costly environmental row threatening to paralyse the country’s industrial heart is already squeezing investment and could inflict greater damage.

A court-ordered suspension of 64 projects worth an estimated $9 billion to $12 billion at the world’s eighth-biggest petrochemicals hub in eastern Thailand is in its fifth month, raising questions about whether a country with a government fighting fires on multiple fronts is a safe bet for investment.

Analysts say the freeze at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate is the last thing the embattled coalition government needs right now and many investors fear resolution of the problem will take a back seat while the country remains locked in a political crisis.