The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on "Oversight of the Financial Stability Oversight Council" with all the members of the regulators' panel in attendance except Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, its chairman, and Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

The Securities and Exchange Commission meets Friday to propose rules for use of derivatives by investment companies and disclosure of government payments by "resource-extraction issuers" such as oil companies and mining firms. The two matters are unrelated, but each has been controversial in its own way.

The derivatives measure addresses a gray area in U.S. securities laws governing how much collateral fund managers must set aside to cover potential losses on swaps contracts. Since 2011, the SEC has urged - but not required - mutual funds to set aside a dollar of physical assets for every dollar of bonds they insure through swaps contracts. The approach the SEC is considering could force changes by investment funds that have told the agency they would use different criteria in setting collateral.

The payments proposal - required by the Dodd-Frank Act  - will be the SEC's second attempt at the measure after an initial version prompted a successful industry lawsuit. The new version will require companies such as Exxon Mobil  and Chevron to report how much they spend to develop specific projects, as opposed to simply providing totals for each country as the industry wanted. The approach could set off a new battle between energy firms that sued the SEC to overturn an earlier version and groups like Oxfam America, which filed its own lawsuit to force the regulator to complete the regulation.
7 December 2015
Week InAdvance
save the date...
Thursday, Jan 14, 2016
Market Practices Council Telecon
11 am ET

Last Wednesday of Every Month
INVESTORS Membership Telecon
4:30 pm ET
Brief updates from all Council chairs.
All members welcome to listen in.
for details & call-in info...
Matthew Jones
Staff Director
mjones@association.institutionalINVESTORS.org
(202) 712-9050
week in brief
Tuesday, Dec 8
Financial regulators testify at House hearing. 

Thursday, Dec 10
Bank of England announces interest rate decision.

Friday, Dec 11
SEC meets to potentially propose derivatives rules. Government funding deadline. "The Big Short" opens in limited release nationwide.
Please see below for details on these and other events this week.
at the agencies
Friday, Dec 11
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Open meeting to consider whether to propose rules on resource extraction disclosure requirements and investment companies' use of derivatives. The agency is also set to propose a rule dealing with how mutual funds may use derivatives.
  
 
on the hill
Tuesday, Dec 8
HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Eight of 10 members of the Financial Stability Oversight Council will testify at a full committee oversight hearing on FSOC's agenda, operations and structure. CFPB Director Richard Cordray, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry, FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg, CFTC Chairman Timothy G. Massad, NCUA Chairwoman Debbie Matz, FHFA Director Mel Watt, SEC Chair Mary Jo White, and Independent member with insurance expertise Roy Woodall, Jr. are slated to appear. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and Fed Chairman Janet Yellen will not attend.

Tuesday, Dec 8
HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Full committee markup of H.R.2187, the "Fair Investment Opportunities for Professional Experts Act"; H.R.2205, the "Data Security Act of 2015"; H.R.2287, the "National Credit Union Administration Budget Transparency Act"; H.R.3700, the "Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015"; H.R.3784, the "SEC Small Business Advocate Act of 2015"; H.R.3791, to raise the consolidated assets threshold under the small bank holding company policy statement; H.R.4168, the "Small Business Capital Formation Enhancement Act"; and the "Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing Resolution of 2016."

Wednesday, Dec 9
HOUSE EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
Full committee hearing on "How the Administration's Regulatory Onslaught is Affecting Workers and Job Creators."
across the globe
Monday, Dec 7
CITY, Country

Tuesday, Dec 8 -
Thursday, Dec 10
SINGAPORE
11th Annual FIA Asia Derivatives Conference. Speakers include Jeffrey Bandman, acting director of the CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk, will give an update Dec. 9 on the status of financial reform in the U.S., including a sneak peek at the CFTC's early 2016 agenda.

Thursday, Dec 10
PARIS, France
OECD COP21 session on "Governance of institutional investments: Fiduciary standards for addressing green finance and the portfolio impact of climate change." Representatives from government, academia, industry, and  international organisations explore the concept of fiduciary duty for investors in the light of the systemic changes required by an effective response to climate change.

Thursday, Dec 10 - 
Friday, Dec 11
LONDON, England
Credit Dynamics and Macroeconomy conference. Joint conference with the Bank of England, European Central bank, the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Centre for Macroeconomics.



other events
Monday, Dec 7
WASHINGTON DC
AEI's (American Enterprise Institute) "Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee" conference. Speakers include Erik R. Sirri, director of market regulation at the SEC, and Richard J. Herring of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the FDIC's Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee and the Systemic Risk Council.

Monday, Dec 7 -
Tuesday, Dec 8
WASHINGTON DC
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) holds its Employee Benefit Plans Accounting, Auditing and Regulatory Update.

Wednesday, Dec 9 -
Friday, Dec 11
WASHINGTON DC
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) Developments. At least a dozen SEC officials will address the conference, including Chair White, who will give a Dec. 9 keynote. Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney will give updates on accounting cases, and Corporation Finance Director Keith Higgins will lead a panel on CorpFin developments. The SEC's chief accountant, James Schnurr, and James Doty, PCAOB chairman, will also speak.

Thursday, Dec 10
NEW YORK CITY & VIA WEBCAST
PLI's (Practising Law Institute) "New Developments in Securitization 2015." Speakers include Michelle Stasny, special counsel in the Office of Structured Finance at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.