The SEC's Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee will meet Tuesday - amid criticism from the industry and activists over the panel's makeup - to discuss SEC rules that govern the maker-taker pricing model and impose access fee caps and restrictions on locked and crossed markets. The panel will also examine recent market volatility and the regulatory framework for exchanges and other trading venues.

"Of note, there is not a single non-financial public company, individual investor, retail broker-dealer or any exchanges that list operating companies on the advisory committee," executives from NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq Inc. and Charles Schwab Corp. wrote to the SEC last week, and asked that the committee be changed "to accommodate the views of a more diverse group of stakeholders."

In a separate letter to SEC Chair Mary Jo White, a Washington-based advocacy group that bills itself as promoting public interest in the financial markets called on the agency to remove from the panel executives with companies that have been subject to regulatory sanctions.

"It's unacceptable that an SEC committee that should be dedicated to the public interest appears to be just another insiders club dominated by Wall Street interests," Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher said in a statement commenting on his letter.
26 October 2015
Week InAdvance
please join us...
Monday, Oct 26
Cyber Security Council Telecon
2 pm ET

Tuesday, Oct 27
Board of Directors Meeting
12 noon - 2 pm ET
Boston, Massachusetts
for details & call-in info...
Matthew Jones
Staff Director
mjones@association.institutionalINVESTORS.org
(202) 712-9050
save the date...
Tuesday, Nov 17
2015 Fall Market Practices in-Person
8:30 am to 1:30 pm ET
Boston, Massachusetts
week in brief
Monday, Oct 26
House expected to vote on reauthorizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank, whose charter was allowed to lapse on June 30. CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad speaks at SEFCON conference in New York.

Tuesday, Oct 27
Fed officials gather to set monetary policy, with the market suggesting no move to raise U.S. interest rates at this week's meeting. SEC's Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee meets. Senate Finance Committee hearing on IRS's response to report on agency's treatment of organizations applying for tax-exempt status.

Wednesday, Oct 28
FOMC announces monetary policy at 2 pm ET. This month's gathering of the panel is not scheduled to be followed by a press conference, while there is one planned after the Dec. 15-16 meeting. SEC Chair Mary Jo White speaks at a Practising Law Institute securities regulation conference in NYC. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and CFPB Director Richard Cordray discuss financial-regulation reform at a Morning Money breakfast in DC.

Thursday, Oct 29
OFR, BOE, and ECB hold two-day joint workshop in NYC on global standards for granular data. Congress's stopgap highway-funding bill is due to run out. 2015 OECD/IOPS global private pensions forum in Berlin, Germany.

Friday, Oct 30
Fed holds open meeting on TLAC proposed rule, margin and capital requirements for uncleared swaps.
Please see below for details on these and other events this week.
at the agencies
Monday, Oct 26
BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Closed meeting for review and determination of the advance and discount rates to be charged by the Federal Reserve Banks.

Tuesday, Oct 27
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Open meeting of the Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee to address Rule 610 of Regulation NMS, which regulates the maker-taker pricing model and imposes access fee caps and restrictions on locked and crossed markets. The panel will also debate the regulatory framework that handles exchanges and other trading venues, and discuss recent market volatility.

Tuesday, Oct 27 - Wednesday, Oct 28
BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Rate-setting FOMC holds closed meeting to decide whether to raise the benchmark U.S. interest rate for the first time since 2006, with the market pricing in just a six percent chance of a move to tighten. On Wednesday, the FOMC announces interest decision.

Thursday, Oct 29
MUNICIPAL SECURITIES RULEMAKING BOARD
Free webinar on a proposed rule that would require municipal securities dealers to tell retail customers how much they marked up securities in certain principal transactions. Specifically, under the proposed changes to MSRB Rule G-15, muni dealers acting as principal would be required to disclose to retail customers their mark-up from the prevailing market price of a municipal security if the dealer makes a corresponding trade within two hours of the customer transaction.

Thursday, Oct 29 - Friday, Oct 30
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
In New York City, Treasury's Office of Financial Research will participate in a Second Joint Workshop with the Bank of England and the European Central Bank on "Setting Global Standards for Granular Data." The workshop will extend and build on a workshop held in January 2015 in London.

Friday, Oct 30
BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Open meeting to discuss proposed rule establishing total loss-absorbing capacity and long-term debt requirements for global systemically important banking organizations. Fed also will consider final rule on margin and capital requirements for uncleared swaps of prudentially regulated swap entities. Last month, the Financial Stability Board said agreement was reached on "draft final principles" and an updated term sheet governing the total loss-absorbing capacity, or TLAC, the world's largest lenders must have available to take losses in a collapse.
  
 
on the hill
Tuesday, Oct 27
SENATE FINANCE
Full committee hearing on "The IRS Response to Committee Recommendations Contained in its August 5, 2015 Report." IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will testify on implementation of recommendations made in an Aug. 5 Finance Committee report that found management of the IRS was "delinquent" in its treatment of Tea Party groups seeking nonprofit status.

Wednesday, Oct 28
SENATE BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions hearing on "The State of Rural Banking: Challenges and Consequences."

Wednesday, Oct 28
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS
Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security hearing on "Retirement Plan Options for Small Businesses."

Thursday, Oct 29
SENATE FINANCE
Full committee hearing on "Welfare and Poverty in America."
across the globe
Monday, Oct 26 
CONFERENCE CALL BRIEFING
The World Bank will hold an embargoed conference call briefing on a new report, "Doing Business," focusing on "regulations that apply to an economy's businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes and resolving insolvency."

Monday, Oct 26 - Tuesday, Oct 27
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
G20 conference on "Macroprudential Policy: Effectiveness and Implementation Challenges" jointly organized by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements. A forum for policy makers and academics to share their experiences and knowledge on the effectiveness of macroprudential policies, their interaction with other policies such as monetary and fiscal as well as the challenges of implementing them.

Tuesday, Oct 27
LONDON, ENGLAND
Managed Funds Association's "Global Summit 2015." Topics include regulatory and operational issues for the hedge fund industry, and practical advice for managers to implement.

Wednesday, Oct 28
HELSKINKI, FINLAND
OECD Public Governance Ministerial Meeting. Ministers and cabinet-level officials from OECD countries and beyond will meet to discuss inclusive growth and governance to help determine how to shape the policy cycle to deliver economic growth for everyone. 

Thursday, Oct 29 - Friday, Oct 30
BERLIN, GERMANY
OECD/IOPS Global Forum on Private Pensions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors joint forum will explore current trends in global private pension systems and the ways in which pension regulatory and supervisory authorities are managing and reacting to the evolution of these systems. Trends include the increased interest in long-term investments, the prolonged period of low-interest rates in the financial services markets, the role of behavioral economics in the financial system, and the contributions that large pension funds may have on the economy and financial stability.

Thursday, Oct 29 - Friday, Oct 30
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS
OECD's 8th Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Keeping tax transparency high on the agenda of governments and taking steps to ensure a worldwide level playing field will top the agenda.



other events
Sunday, Oct 25 - Wednesday Oct 28
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Money 20/20 Fin Tech Conference. Topics include bitcoin regulatory challenges, anti-money laundering and Office of Financial Assets Control in the new payments landscape and data breach liability.

Monday, Oct 26
NEW YORK CITY
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Timothy Massad speaks at the Wholesale Markets Brokers' Assoication, Americas (WMBAA) sixth annual Swap Execution Facility Conference (SEFCON VI).

Tuesday, Oct 27
WASHINGTON DC
Treasury Secretary Lew to discuss debt limit at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Wednesday, Oct 28
NEW YORK CITY
47th annual Practising Law Institute's Securities Regulation Institute seminar. Speakers include SEC Chair Mary Jo White, CFTC Enforcement Director Aitan Goelman, and PCAOB Chair James R. Doty.

Wednesday, Oct 28
WASHINGTON DC
"The Trans-Pacific Partnership: The Uncertain Path from Agreement to Ratification to Implementation" discussion at the Cato Institute.

Wednesday, Oct 28
WASHINGTON DC
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray discuss financial-regulation reform at a Politico-hosted Morning Money breakfast.

Friday, Oct 30
WASHINGTON DC
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President and CEO John Williams, and Federal Reserve Board Director of Monetary Affairs Thomas Laubach, will weigh in on measuring the natural rate of interest as part of a discussion on "Where Interest Rates Will Be When the Economy is (Finally) Healthy and Why It Matters" event/webcast hosted by the Brookings Institution.

Sunday, Nov 1 - Wednesday, Nov 4
NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND
2015 NSCP National Conference. Keynote speakers include FINRA's Susan Axelrod, David Chaves at the FBI, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's Lynnette Kelly and Marc Wyatt at the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations.