1. The prevalence of pre-dispute arbitration agreements in consumer financial services products other than credit card agreements (as to which the Bureau already has data because most credit card issuers file with the Bureau copies of their consumer credit card agreements),

2. Claims brought by and against consumers in arbitration, and

3. The impact of pre-dispute arbitration agreements on consumers other than in particular arbitration proceedings.

• Senators Still Pursuing Stricter Volcker Rule.

On April 26th, 22 Senators signed a letter urging regulators to quickly adopt rules implementing the Volcker Rule, the Dodd-Frank Act's prohibition against proprietary trading. Senators' Press Release. The New York Times' DealBook reported that a similar letter is circulating in the House. House Letter.

• Congressmen Propose SRO for Investment Advisers.

On April 25th, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus and Representative Carolyn McCarthy introduced a bill authorizing one or more self-regulatory organizations for investment advisers funded by membership fees. CFO.com reported that the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) opposes the proposed system, which they see as raising costs for auditors. Financial Services Committee Press Release.

• Regulators Scrutinize Electronic Check Processing.

On April 23rd, Reuters reported that banking regulators are scrutinizing electronic check processing systems for possible vulnerabilities to money launderers. Money Laundering.

• MF Global Trustee Suggests Future Safeguards.

On April 23rd, Bloomberg summarized the testimony of Louis Freeh, the trustee for MF Global Holdings Ltd., before the Senate Banking Committee. Regulators continue to investigate how over $1 billion in segregated customer funds went missing in the days preceding MF Global's collapse. To protect smaller, individual investors in the future, Freeh suggested the establishment of an insurance fund for them, noting that 75 percent of outstanding customer claims are for $100,000 or less. Insurance Fund.

• Swap Dealer Definitions.

On April 27th, the SEC and CFTC published new rules and interpretive guidance under the Commodity Exchange Act and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 further defining the terms "swap dealer," "security-based swap dealer," "major swap participant," "major security-based swap participant," and "eligible contract participant." The new definitions are effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected during the week of April 30.

• Conference on Encouraging Growth in Native American Communities to be Held.

The Federal Reserve Board, along with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, will sponsor a nationwide conference on May, 2012 to explore ways to encourage economic growth in Native American communities. Federal Reserve Board Press Release.

• FDIC and SBA Announce Training Curriculum for New Businesses.

On April 24th, the FDIC and Small Business Administration announced new resources to support small businesses. "Money Smart for Small Business" is a training curriculum for new and aspiring business owners providing an introduction to day-to-day business organization and planning. The curriculum is designed to be delivered to new and aspiring business owners by financial institutions, small business development centers, among others. FDIC Press Release.

• OCC Bulletin on HMDA Reporting Threshold.

On April 23rd, the OCC issued a Bulletin on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ("CFPB") amendment of the official commentary to the requirements of Regulation C. The amendment raises the asset size exemption threshold to $41 million for depository institutions. Thus, institutions with assets of $41 million or less as of December 31, 2011, will not be required to collect Home Mortgage Disclosure Act ("HMDA") data in 2012. The adjustment is effective for data collection in 2012. An institution's exemption from collecting data in 2012 does not affect its responsibility to report the data that it was required to collect in 2011.

• Unblocking Notice.

On April 27th, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control unblocked the assets of Tarek Charaabi. 77 FR 25234.

• CFPB Extends Comment Period Regarding Overdraft Programs.

On April 25th, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau extended to June 29, 2012, the period in which comments may be submitted in response to its notice and request for information regarding the impacts of overdraft programs on consumers. 77 FR24687.

• FinCEN Publishes Mortgage Suspicious Activity Reports Information.

On April 23rd, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network released its full year 2011 update of mortgage loan fraud reported suspicious activity reports ("MLF SARs") that shows financial institutions submitted 92,028 MLF SARs last year, a 31 percent increase over the 70,472 submitted in 2010. The increase can primarily be attributable to mortgage repurchase demands. The report also provides clues that there is significant improvement in mortgage lending due diligence since the height of the housing bubble. For example, 40 percent of MLF SAR narratives, where SAR filers provide details of why an activity appears suspicious, indicated the filing institution turned down the subject's loan application, short sale request, or debt elimination attempt because of the suspected fraud reported in the SAR. FinCEN Press Release.

• Designations.

On April 23rd, the Treasury Department announced the signing of an Executive Order, "Blocking the Property and Suspending Entry into the United States of Certain Persons with Respect to Grave Human Rights Abuses by the Governments of Iran and Syria Via Information Technology." The Order targets persons determined to have operated, or to have directed the operation of, information and communications technology that facilitates computer or network disruption, monitoring or tracking that could assist in or enable human rights abuses by or on behalf of the Government of Syria or the Government of Iran. The property of the listed individuals and entities is blocked and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Treasury Department Press Release.

• CFTC Requests Mad Cow Information.

On April 27th, Reuters reported the CFTC has asked the Agriculture Department for information about the latter's mad cow disease announcement. Mad Cows.

• Motion to Dismiss Oil Manipulation Case is Denied.

On April 26th, Reuters reported that the CFTC's oil manipulation lawsuit against Arcadia Petroleum and Parnon Energy will move forward. Motion Denied.

• End Users.

On April 25th, Bloomberg reported that the CFTC is considering an end-user rule for swaps that would subject smaller banks to the same clearing requirements and capital standards as those imposed upon larger institutions. End Users.

• CFTC Rule Enforcement Review.

On April 25th, the CFTC announced that it has notified NYSE Liffe U.S. of the results of a rule enforcement review completed by the Commission's Division of Market Oversight. The review covered the period from November 1, 2009, through November 1, 2010 and assessed NYSE Liffe's compliance with core principles relating to its trade practice surveillance program. Although the Division believes that NYSE Liffe maintains an adequate trade practice surveillance program, the Division identified some areas in which NYSE Liffe needs to make improvements. CFTC Release.

• CFTC Considering Exemptions from Derivatives Rules.

On April 22nd, Reuters, covering a Financial Times article, reported that the CFTC may grant foreign firms, and the foreign units of U.S. firms, temporary exemptions from new derivatives rules. Temporary Exemptions.

• Commodity Options.

On April 19th, the CFTC published a new final rule repealing and replacing the CFTC's current regulations concerning commodity options. The Dodd-Frank Act includes commodity options within the statutory definition of "swap." The CFTC's rule confirms that the same rules apply to commodity options as are applicable to other swaps. In addition, the CFTC requests comment on an interim final rule to provide a trade option exemption for certain commodity options that are physically delivered. For a transaction to be within the trade option exemption, the option, the offeror (seller), and the offeree (buyer), as applicable, must satisfy certain conditions, including eligibility requirements, physical settlement, and that the option buyer be a commercial user of the commodity underlying the option. The final rule is effective June 26, 2012. Comments on the interim final rule should be submitted on or before June 26, 2012. Commodity Options.

• Large Trader Reporting Exemptions.

On April 20th, the SEC temporarily exempted to May 1, 2013, certain broker-dealers from the large trader reporting requirements of Rule 13h-1 of the Securities Exchange Act. The compliance date is extended to November 30, 2012 for broker-dealers that are large traders or have large trader customers that are either broker-dealers or that trade through a "sponsored access" arrangement. The extension of the compliance date will allow broker-dealers additional time to develop, test, and implement enhancements to their recordkeeping and reporting systems as required under Rule 13h-1 and, for those broker-dealer requirements for which the compliance date has been extended to May 1, 2013, for the Commission to consider requests for relief from certain provisions of the Rule. In addition, the Commission is exempting certain transactions from the definition of the term "transaction" provided in Rule 13h-1(a)(6), but for the sole purpose of determining whether a person is a large trader. SEC Release No. 34-66839.

• Division of Trading and Markets Director Testifies before the Senate Banking Committee.

On April 24th, Robert Cook, SEC Director, Division of Trading and Markets, discussed the collapse of MF Global. SEC staff is evaluating possible rule changes to the financial responsibility requirements that could strengthen customer protection. For example, one change under consideration would be to limit, for purposes of the customer reserve fund required by Rule 15c3-3, the amount of cash a broker-dealer could maintain in any one bank, as a percentage of capital of the broker-dealer or the bank. Cook Testimony.

• SEC Questions Movie Companies.

On April 24th, Reuters reported that the SEC has asked at least five movie production firms for information concerning their dealings with companies in China. The questions are part of the SEC's broader inquiry into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. FCPA.

• Fiduciary Duty Harmonization.

On April 23rd, AdvisorOne reported that the SEC will likely issue a concept release on harmonizing the fiduciary duty standard owed by broker-dealers and investment advisors. Concept Release.

• Oxfam Threatens to Sue SEC.

On April 16th, Oxfam America submitted a letter to the SEC in response to the Commission's proposed rule for the disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers. The letter threatens suit if the SEC fails to adopt a final rule within 30 days. Letter.

• Self-Trade Prevention Modifiers Proposed.

On April 25th, the SEC provided notice of the Chicago Board Options Exchange's proposal to adopt three forms of Self-Trade Prevention modifiers: The Cancel Newest, Cancel Oldest, and Cancel Both Self-Trade Prevention modifiers. A CBSX Trader may elect for all of his proprietary orders and quotes to be marked with a Self-Trade Prevention modifier. If a CBSX Trader makes such an election, any quote or order he submits will be prevented from executing against a resting opposite side order or quote that is labeled as originating from the same associated acronym and trading for the same account (for the purposes of this Rule, the "Same CBSX Trader"). A CBSX Trader may only elect for one of the three Self-Trade Prevention options, as the CBSX System may only be configured to permit one such election. Such election shall apply to all of the CBSX Trader's eligible proprietary orders and quotes. As such, Self-Trade Prevention elections cannot be made on a per-order, per-quote, or security-by-security basis due to CBSX System limitations. Any of the Cancel Newest, Cancel Oldest, or Cancel Both Self-Trade Prevention modifiers may be accommodated on the CBSX System. Comments should be submitted within 21 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected during the week of April 30. SEC Release No. 34-66860.

• Arbitration of Whistleblower Disputes.

On April 20th, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") announced that the SEC has approved amendments to FINRA Rule 13201 of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes (Industry Code) to provide that a dispute arising under a whistleblower statute that prohibits the use of predispute arbitration agreements is not required to be arbitrated under the Industry Code. Parties may arbitrate such a dispute only if they have agreed to arbitrate it after the dispute arose. The rule change aligns the Industry Code with statutes that invalidate predispute arbitration agreements for whistleblower disputes. The rule change also makes a conforming change to FINRA Rule 2263 (Arbitration Disclosure to Associated Persons Signing or Acknowledging Form U4). The amendments to Rule 13201 are effective on May 21, 2012, for all whistleblower disputes arising under a statute that prohibits the use of predispute arbitration agreements, regardless of when the predispute arbitration agreement was executed. The amendments do not apply to any pending matters at FINRA. The conforming change to FINRA Rule 2263 also is effective on May 21, 2012. FINRA Regulatory Notice 12-21.

• Amendments Regarding Post-Trade Transparency for Agency Pass-Through Mortgage-Backed Securities Traded TBA are Approved.

On April 18th, the SEC approved FINRA's proposal to reduce the reporting timeframe for and to provide for public dissemination of Mortgage-Backed Securities traded to be announced. SEC Release No. 34-66829.

• T+1 Settlement Approved for CDS.

On April 24th, the SEC approved ICE Clear Credit's proposed provision for a T+1 settlement of the Initial Payment related to the CDS contracts cleared by ICE Clear Credit. SEC Release No. 34-66853.

• ISDA Publishes Best Practices for OTC Commodity Derivatives Processing.

On April 25th, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association published a whitepaper, "OTC Commodity Derivatives Trade Processing Lifecycle Events." The paper analyzes existing and potential opportunities for further standardization in the OTC commodity derivatives markets in order to drive improvements in operational efficiency, reduce operational risk, and increase netting and clearing for appropriate products. It also provides a summary of OTC commodity derivatives markets' trade processing lifecycle events and an overview of the current industry state of processing. ISDA Press Release.

• Amendments to Market Maker Risk Limitation Mechanism Proposed.

On April 25th, the SEC provided notice of NYSE Amex's filing of a proposed amendment to NYSE Amex Options Rule 928NY to specify that the potential range for the settings applicable to the Market Maker Risk Limitation Mechanism will be between one and 100 executions per second, to eliminate the current reference to the default setting and, in the future, to specify the applicable minimum, maximum and default settings via Regulatory Bulletin. Comments should be submitted within 21 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected during the week of April 30. SEC Release No. 34-66857.

• Withdrawing the Fifth.

On April 27th, the Tenth Circuit addressed the parameters in a civil case for withdrawing an invocation of the 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The SEC instituted enforcement proceedings against defendant for his alleged operation of a Ponzi scheme. Defendant asserted his 5th Amendment rights, but when presented with a summary judgment motion, submitted an affidavit and sought to withdraw his 5th Amendment claim. The Court holds defendant was using the 5th Amendment to manipulate the litigation process. SEC v. Smart.

• Investment Adviser Performance Compensation - Effective May 22, 2012.

The SEC is adopting amendments to the rule under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended that permits investment advisers to charge performance-based compensation to "qualified clients." The amendments revise the dollar amount thresholds of the rule's tests that are used to determine whether an individual or company is a qualified client. These rule amendments codify revisions that the SEC recently issued by order that adjust the dollar amount thresholds to account for the effects of inflation. 77 FR 10358.

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