All I want for Christmas...

            As the holiday season approaches, several regulatory agencies seem to be getting into the holiday spirit. As visions of post-holiday debt dances in the heads of the unemployed and underemployed masses, the elves at Washington’s workshop are hard at work crafting regulations meant to increase financial stability and make future Christmases merrier.    

           

Holiday Season Highlights:

Securities Exchange Commission

-Dodd-Frank Requires the SEC to draft roughly 100 new laws according the SEC website.

-Planned for December:

-Appoint Director of new Office of Women and Minority Inclusion

-New Standards for risk taking including standards for institutions designated systematically important

-Propose rules “regarding disclosure of, and prohibitions of certain, executive compensation structures and arrangements.”

-Propose new rules on Asset-Backed Securities prohibiting conflicts of interests, regulating risk retention by secuitizers of ABS’s and issuing new reporting standards.

-More info: (here)

Federal Reserve Board of Governors

-Granted substantial oversight powers

-Debit Interchange: The Board will be seeking comment on setting the standard for debit card interchange fees. This has become highly controversial as Dow Jones reported (here) that the Fed could have release the new rules by the end of the year.

-The Fed is also scheduled to release a report on December 1st about emergency lending to institution since 2007.

-More Fun At the Fed: (here)

U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission

-Has been holding regular meetings on proposed new rules, charged with overseeing derivatives market

           -The Wall Street Journal reported (here) that the CFTC could release new swaps rules by the end   of the month. Such regulations would include new standards on market manipulation, dealer registration and other areas. 

-Earlier this year, it was announced that individuals who brought information of fraud to either the SEC or CFTC could receive as much as 30 percent of the settlement.

Looks like a happy holiday season for retailers who stand to benefit from the debit interchange fee regulations and whistle blower lawyers. Not so much for banks, consumers or possibly derivatives traders.