Dodd-Frank News Center

International Supervisors Agree on Stronger Regulations

John M. Pachkowski, J.D., Editor, CCH Federal Banking Law Reporter and Bank Digest; Author, Anti-Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy: Compliance and the USA PATRIOT Act; Co-Author CCH Financial Privacy Law Guide

The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision, the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision have announced that they have agreed to a comprehensive set of measures to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of the banking sector. These measures are intended to substantially reduce the probability and severity of economic and financial stress.

President Jean-Claude Trichet, who chairs the Group, noted that “the agreements reached today among 27 major countries of the world are essential as they set the new standards for banking regulation and supervision at the global level”.

Senator Schumer Urges SEC to Prohibit Flash Orders

This story appeared in Jim Hamilton's World of Securities Regulation

In a letter to SEC Chair Mary Schapiro, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged the Commission to ban the practice of flash trading that gives advance knowledge of stock orders to certain traders or he would consider introducing legislation to ban the practice in connection with optional pre-routing programs in order to ensure that trading in the capital markets is fair and transparent for all market participants. In his view, market integrity is being compromised by the ability of some insiders to view order information before it is available to the entire market and use electronic trading strategies to profit from that information at the expense of other investors.

House Passes Legislation Allowing SEC to Sanction Former SRO Officials

James Hamilton, J.D., LL.M., Principal Analyst, CCH Federal Securities Law Reporter; and CCH Derivatives Regulation Law Reporter.

The House has passed legislation, HR 2623, expressly authorizing the SEC to bring actions against persons formerly associated with a regulated or supervised entity, such as an investment company or an SRO, for misconduct that occurred during that association.  The bill passed the House unanimously by voice vote. The legislation closes a loophole in the securities laws allowing those who engage in misconduct while working for an entity regulated by the SEC, like a stock exchange, to resign and avoid being held accountable for their wrongdoing.