Week InAdvance: October 13, 2014

With less than a month until the congressional mid-term elections, most of the action in Washington, D.C., this week will emanate from political pollsters and pundits. However, there are several policy-based industry conferences and forums with appearances from key financial industry regulators that are worth noting.

We can also expect a week filled with analyzing comments and announcements made during last week's Washington meetings of the International Monetary Fund and this past weekend's International Institute of Finance meeting, where Mark

Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and head of the Financial Stability Board, said investment funds would receive increased regulatory scrutiny, given that assets managed by such funds make up almost 90 percent of global GDP.

Carney was careful to note that the size of asset managers should not be the only factor to consider when assessing systemic risk. Risks could arise from certain activities, and it is such activities that "need careful monitoring, and possibly a deliberate policy response," Carney added.

Looking ahead, senior current and former officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Department of Justice ("DOJ") officials will gather in Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 14, for the 2014 Securities Enforcement Forum with panels on financial reporting, enforcement priorities and cybersecurity priorities regarding hedge funds, asset managers, broker-dealers and private equity firms. Keynote speakers include SEC Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York.

Also on Tuesday, the Brookings Institute will host a forum on regulatory reforms of the global insurance industry and its impacts for the industry and consumers. Rounding out the week, the Managed Funds Association will hold its annual OUTLOOK Conference in New York, NY, on Thursday and Friday with a keynote address from Timothy Massad, Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") and panels geared toward public policy, global economies and markets and the needs of institutional investors.

Please see below for further detail on these and other events this week.

Relevant White House Activity

On Monday, Oct. 13, at a U.S.-U.K. joint exercise hosted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), leaders of U.S. and U.K. financial regulatory agencies will look at how the authorities of both countries would cooperate to deal with the failure and resolution of their global systemically important banks ("G-SIB"). Attendees will include:

• George Osborne, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Jack Lew, Treasury secretary
• Janet Yellen, Fed chair
• Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England

Relevant Agency Activity

Relevant Global Activity 

European Central Bank

On Wednesday, Oct. 15, the ECB will hold its "Seventh ECB Statistics Conference" in Frankfurt, Germany. Users and compliers of statistics from central banks, supervisory authorities, the media and the financial industry, will explore issues related to the statistical preparation for the Single Supervisory Mechanism. Read more. Presenters will include:

• Mario Draghi, ECB president
• Micheline Casey, the U.S. Fed's chief data officer
• Francesco Mazzaferro, the European Systemic Risk Board's head of secretariat
   

Ontario Securities Commission

On Thursday, Oct. 16, SEC Chair Mary Jo White will participate in a discussion with OSC Chair Howard Wetston at the "OSC Dialogue 2014" in Toronto, Canada, where market participants will address issues and trends facing the capital markets in order to ensure a strong and healthy regulatory system. Read more.

Other Activity In Washington 

Tuesday, Oct. 14

Securities Docket will hold the 2014 Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington-a one-day conference bringing together current and former senior SEC and DOJ officials, securities enforcement and white-collar attorneys, in-house counsel and compliance executives, and other top professionals in the field. Panel discussions will include sessions on "Financial Reporting and Accounting Fraud," "Insider Trading, Whistleblowers and Other 2014 Enforcement Priorities" and "SEC/FINRA Investigations and Cybersecurity Priorities Regarding Hedge Funds, Asset Managers, Broker-Dealers and Private Equity Firms." SEC Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar is scheduled to deliver the morning keynote address, and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York will deliver an afternoon keynote speech. A complete agenda is available here. 

The Brookings Institution's Initiative on Business and Public Policy will hold a forum on "Global Insurance Regulatory Developments and the Impacts on U.S. Consumers and Insurers." The forum will focus on lessons about insurance from the financial crisis and how regulatory reforms are changing the industry and its supervision. Panels will include experts from academia, regulatory bodies, industry, and consumer groups. A complete agenda and other information are available here. 

HUD Secretary Julian Castro and Ginnie Mae President Theodore Tozer will hold a Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony with the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport "to share policy experience in financing affordable housing, establishing sustainable community development, and stabilizing housing markets in the United States and Korea" in Washington, D.C. 

Thursday & Friday, Oct. 16-17

The FDIC's Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection will hold its "4th Annual Consumer Research Symposium" at the FDIC's facilities in Arlington, Virginia. The symposium will facilitate discussion of recent research on consumers' capabilities, knowledge, preferences, and experiences in the market for financial products and services, as well as the effects of public policy interventions and new regulations on consumers, households, communities, and financial institutions. Read more. In addition to the FDIC, agencies represented will be:

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• Freddie Mac
• Securities and Exchange Commission

The Managed Funds Association holds its annual OUTLOOK Conference in New York, NY, bringing together "prominent alternative investment professionals, institutional investors, policy makers, counterparties, and service providers." Timothy Massad, Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC"), will deliver the keynote address. The conference agenda will focus on public policy, global economies and markets, the needs of institutional investors, and the key trends that foster change for alternative investors. The conference is closed to the media. A complete agenda and further details are available here. 

Friday, Oct. 17

Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at the Boston Fed's 58^th Economic Conference, "The Inequality of Economic Opportunity" in Boston, Massachusetts.