Week InAdvance: January 12, 2014

MONDAY | House Rules Committee to consider package of bills easing financial regulations: after the House failed to reach a supermajority supporting quick passage of a package of bills easing financial regulations, the House Rules Committee will take up the measure, paving the way for its passage with a simple majority. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's 40th Anniversary Forum on pensions.

TUESDAY | HUD Secretary Julian Castro and CFPB Director Richard Cordray will give separate speeches on housing finance oversight. Castro holds news conference on the state of housing finance oversight and HUD's plans for 2015 at the National Press Club. Cordray participates in discussion on mortgage market at Brookings Institution.

WEDNESDAY | Fed releases "Beige Book" regional economic reports. SEC to vote on long-delayed rules governing how traders report security-based swap deals. Regulators lacked a complete understanding of how interconnected banks and insurers such as AIG had become through swaps in the years before the 2008 credit crisis. The SEC's swap-reporting rules are expected to specify how soon transactions must be reported, including larger trades that can move prices. It also would outline what information must be provided to the public and what data would be reported only to regulators.

THURSDAY | U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron to have a working dinner at the White House.

FRIDAY | U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron will visit the President in the Oval Office to discuss issues including economic growth, international trade, and cybersecurity.

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

At the Agencies

Wednesday, Jan. 14

BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM | The central bank releases its survey based on reports from the 12 regional banks of the Federal Reserve system, providing the Federal Open Market Committee ("FOMC") anecdotal information about the U.S. economy before its Jan. 27-28 meeting. 2pm ET. Read more.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION | Open meeting to consider action on several Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act rulemakings governing security-based swaps transactions. The commission will consider:

whether to adopt rules under the 1934 Securities Exchange Act governing the security-based swap data repository registration process, the duties of such repositories, and the applicable core principles;
whether to adopt Regulation SBSR under the Exchange Act to provide for regulatory reporting of security-based swap information and the public dissemination of security-based swap transaction, volume, and pricing information by registered SDRs; and
whether to propose rules and guidance regarding Regulation SBSR to address the reporting duties for cleared and platform-executed security-based swap transactions.

The meeting will take place at 10am ET in the agency's Washington headquarters. Read more.

On the Hill

Monday, Jan. 12

HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE | Full committee meets to formulate a rule on H.R.185, the "Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015"; and H.R.37, the "Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act." After the House failed to reach a supermajority supporting quick passage of H.R. 37, a package of bills easing financial regulations, the House Rules Committee will take up the measure, paving the way for its passage with a simple majority. The measure would ease requirements under Dodd-Frank, the JOBS Act and other financial regulations. It would delay until July 21, 2019, the application of the Volcker Rule to banks' collateralized loan obligations. It also includes exemptions from swap rules for end users and affiliates of non-financial entities as well as exemptions from certain disclosure and reporting requirements. Also in line for a floor vote this week is H.R. 185, which would alter federal agency rulemaking procedures by requiring agencies to adopt the least-costly regulatory alternatives, publish advance notice of proposed rulemaking for major and high-impact rules, as well as require hearings on high-impact rules, defined as estimated to cost more than $1 billion. Virtually the same language was included in a broader bill, H.R. 4 in the 113th Congress, which the House passed in September. 5pm ET, H-313, U.S. Capitol.