Financial Regulatory Forum

By Roberta Rampton and Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) – The top U.S. futures regulator wants Congress to include as part of its financial regulatory reform package new securities-style firewalls and insider trading bans for commodities, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday.

The CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission proposed the harmonized rules in October, many of which require authority from Congress. This is the first time CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has indicated how soon he wants to begin implementing the new measures.

The CFTC is calling its insider trading ban the “Eddie Murphy rule” after the actor’s role in the movie “Trading Places,” in which traders stole an Agriculture Department report on the U.S. orange crop and then placed positions on the market.

Gensler said the House version of the reform bill included some of the harmonized measures, and said the CFTC will suggest legislative provisions to the Senate on other measures.

“We will provide language to the Senate as they consider financial regulatory reform legislation,” Gensler said in testimony prepared for a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing.

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) – The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to work more closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the U.S. municipal bond market, the IRS said on Tuesday, adding the two federal agencies had signed memorandum of understanding.

“This memorandum reflects the commitment both agencies have in using all means possible to ensure the municipal bond market operates in accordance with all the laws that govern it,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman in a statement.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will identify issues and trends in the municipal securities industry and “enhance performance” in regulating the $2.8 trillion market.

    WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) – The Internal Revenue Service has agreed to work more closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the U.S. municipal bond market, the IRS said on Tuesday, adding the two federal agencies had signed memorandum of understanding. (more…)

   By Rachelle Younglai
   WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday delayed plans to allow domestic companies to use international accounting standards because it will take businesses at least four years to switch to new rules. (more…)

   WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators are considering new short-sale restrictions with no exemptions for market makers, people familiar with the regulators’ plans said on Tuesday. (more…)

   By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
   BOSTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – State Street Corp <STT.N> reported on Monday that federal securities regulators and federal prosecutors had asked it to supply information about several of its funds. (more…)

By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – All publicly traded companies should be required to give shareholders a way to influence the composition of their corporate boards, a top U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official said on Tuesday.

Luis Aguilar, one of five officials who decides on federal securities rules, said companies should not be given the option to opt out of potential rules being considered by his agency.

“It’s a slippery slope,” SEC Commissioner Aguilar told Reuters in an interview. Aguilar said giving companies such an option could lead to other exemptions.

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators will consider short selling curbs in “coming weeks,” Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said on Friday.

The SEC has proposed a number of ways to curb short-selling, or investors making bearish bets on stocks.

Those proposals include market-wide curbs and so-called circuit breakers that would impose a restriction on short-selling if a stock fell by a certain percentage.

By Jonathan Stempel and Joe Rauch

NEW YORK/ORLANDO, Fla., Feb 4 (Reuters) – New York’s attorney general charged Bank of America Corp former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis and former Chief Financial Officer Joe Price with fraud for allegedly misleading shareholders about the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately said Bank of America agreed to pay a $150 million civil fine and bolster disclosure and governance practices to settle its two lawsuits alleging poor disclosure of Merrill’s losses and $3.6 billion of bonus payouts. That accord requires court approval.

Thursday’s civil lawsuit by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo could complicate efforts by new Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan to revive the largest U.S. bank.

By Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators adopted rules aimed at making money market funds a safer investment after the collapse of the Reserve Primary Fund triggered a run on the $3.24 trillion market in 2008.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 4-1 on Wednesday to bolster the funds’ liquidity, limit their riskier investments and to show investors the funds may not always maintain a stable $1 share value.

The fund industry was pleased the new rules were less restrictive than the agency initially proposed last year, but the new rules were likely to come at the expense of some yield.