Week InReview: November 21, 2014

Basel's ABS Stance Will Toughen Before It Eases: (Nov. 20) The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision appears ready to finalize tougher new capital rules on asset-backed securities in December, just three months before defining banks' high-quality assets which could be granted better treatment in the future. Read more.

GAO Recommends FSOC Log Dates, Release More Info on SIFI Process: (Nov. 20) A Government Accountability Office report recommended that the Financial Stability Oversight Council keep more thorough internal records and bolster transparency by including more detail in its public statements about how it designates systemically important financial institutions. Read more.

SEC Upgrades Stock Exchange Tech Rules: (Nov. 19) The SEC voted unanimously to require stock exchanges to show they can prevent technology disruptions under new rules intended to limit the frequency of malfunctions that have undermined investor confidence. The rules will cover the Nasdaq Stock Market, the New York Stock Exchange, venues operated by Bats Global Markets Inc. and dark pools. The SEC will also consider expanding the rules to brokers. Read more.

FINRA Seeks Input on OATS, Computer Clocks & OTC Trade Issues: (Nov. 18) In three separate regulatory notices, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority asked for comment proposed rule changes governing the self-regulatory organization's alternative trading system transparency initiative, the synchronization tolerance for computer clocks, and OTC equity trades reported more than two seconds after execution. Comments are due Jan. 9, 2015. Read more.

Wetjen & the Royals: (Nov. 14) At Cumberland Lodge (Windsor Great Park, U.K.), whose chief patron is Her Majesty the Queen, Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Mark Wetjen acknowledged a market fragmentation problem rooted in cross-border derivatives lawmaking, but said substituted compliance and other remedies could improve the status quo. He cited "differences in the timing and content of global reforms" of derivatives markets in the U.S. and Europe, adding that he was concerned ongoing differences will continue to encourage and perhaps create "regulatory fragmentation."