Compliance Regulations and Guidance Affecting your Industry

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is finalizing amendments to Regulation SHO under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) by making permanent amendments contained in Interim Final Temporary Rule 204T (“temporary Rule 204T”) of Regulation SHO, with some modifications to address commenters’ concerns. These amendments are intended to help further our goal of reducing fails to deliver by maintaining the reductions in fails to deliver achieved by the adoption of temporary Rule 204T, as well as other actions taken by the Commission. In addition, these amendments are intended to help further our goal of addressing abusive “naked” short selling in all equity securities. These goals will be furthered by requiring that, subject to certain limited exceptions, if a participant of a registered clearing agency has a fail to deliver position at a registered clearing agency it must immediately purchase or borrow securities to close out the fail to deliver position by no later than the beginning of regular trading hours on the settlement day following the day the participant incurred the fail to deliver position. Failure to comply with the close-out requirement of this final rule is a violation of the rule. In addition, a participant that does not comply with this closeout requirement, and any broker-dealer from which it receives trades for clearance and settlement, will not be able to short sell the security either for itself or for the account of another, unless it has previously arranged to borrow or borrowed the security, until the fail to deliver position is closed out.

Effective Date: This rule is effective July 31, 2009

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting amendments to certain of its rules and forms to remove references to securities credit ratings. The Commission is eliminating certain references to credit ratings issued by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (“NRSROs”) in rules and forms under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 related to the regulation of self-regulatory organizations and alternative trading systems, and in rules under the Investment Company Act of 1940 that affect an investment company’s ability to purchase refunded securities and securities in underwritings in which an affiliate is participating. The Commission believes that the references to credit ratings in these rules and forms are no longer warranted as serving their intended purposes. The amendments are designed to address concerns that references to NRSRO ratings in Commission rules may have contributed to an undue reliance on those ratings by market participants. In a companion release, the Commission is re-opening the comment period for certain other proposed rule and form amendments that would eliminate additional references to NRSRO ratings.

Effective Date: This rule is effective Nivember 12, 2009

We are amending temporary rules that require companies that are non-accelerated filers to include in their annual reports, pursuant to rules implementing Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an attestation report of their independent auditor on internal control over financial reporting for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009. The amendments will extend the compliance date for filing attestation reports, so that a non-accelerated filer will be required to file the auditor’s attestation report on internal control over financial reporting when it files an annual report for a fiscal year ending on or after June 15, 2010.

Effective Date: This rule is effective December 18, 2009

We are amending temporary rules that require companies that are non-accelerated filers to include in their annual reports, pursuant to rules implementing Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, an attestation report of their independent auditor on internal control over financial reporting for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009. The amendments will extend the compliance date for filing attestation reports, so that a non-accelerated filer will be required to file the auditor’s attestation report on internal control over financial reporting when it files an annual report for a fiscal year ending on or after June 15, 2010.

Effective Date: October 30, 2009. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of October 30, 2009.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is extending the compliance date for Regulation S-AM (74 FR 40398 (Aug. 11, 2009)), which limits a person’s use of certain information received from an affiliate to solicit a consumer for marketing purposes unless the consumer has been given notice and a reasonable opportunity and a reasonable and simple method to opt out of such solicitations.

Effective Date: The effective date for Regulation S-AM (17 CFR 248.101 through 248.128) remains September 10, 2009. The compliance date for Regulation S-AM is extended from January 1, 2010 to June 1, 2010.

The Commission is adopting rule amendments that impose additional disclosure and conflict of interest requirements on nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (“NRSROs”) in order to address concerns about the integrity of the credit rating procedures and methodologies at NRSROs.

Effective Date: This rule is effective 2 February, 2010

The Commission is adopting an amendment to Rule 312 of Regulation S-T to extend its application for one year. Rule 312 provides a temporary filing accommodation for filings with respect to asset-backed securities that allows static pool information required to be disclosed in a prospectus to be provided on an Internet Web site under certain conditions. Under the rule, such information is deemed to be included in the prospectus included in the registration statement for the asset-backed securities. As a result of the extension, the rule will apply to filings with respect to asset-backed securities filed on or before December 31, 2010.

Effective Date: This amendment is effective December 31, 2009

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting as final Rule 206(3)-3T under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the interim final temporary rule that establishes an alternative means for investment advisers who are registered with the Commission as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of Section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. As adopted, the only change to the rule is the expiration date. Rule 206(3)-3T will sunset on December 31, 2010.

Effective Date: December 30, 2009, except 17 CFR 275.206(3)-3T will expire and no longer be effective on December 31, 2010

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adopting amendments to the custody and recordkeeping rules under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and related forms. The amendments are designed to provide additional safeguards under the Advisers Act when a registered adviser has custody of client funds or securities by requiring such an adviser, among other things: to undergo an annual surprise examination by an independent public accountant to verify client assets; to have the qualified custodian maintaining client funds and securities send account statements directly to the advisory clients; and unless client assets are maintained by an independent custodian (i.e., a custodian that is not the adviser itself or a related person), to obtain, or receive from a related person, a report of the internal controls relating to the custody of those assets from an independent public accountant that is registered with and subject to regular inspection by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Finally, the amended custody rule and forms will provide the Commission and the public with better information about the custodial practices of registered investment advisers.

Effective Date: This rule will effect March 12, 2010

The Commission is adopting amendments to the proxy rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to set forth certain requirements for U.S. registrants subject to Section 111(e) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Section 111(e) of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 requires companies that have received financial assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) to permit a separate shareholder advisory vote to approve the compensation of executives, as disclosed pursuant to the compensation disclosure rules of the Commission, during the period in which any obligation arising from financial assistance provided under the TARP remains outstanding. The amendments are intended to help implement this requirement by specifying and clarifying it in the context of the federal proxy rules.

Effective Date: This rule is effective 18 february, 2010

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending its rules to delegate authority to the Director of the Division of Enforcement (“Division”) to submit witness immunity order requests to the Department of Justice for witnesses who have provided or have the potential to provide substantial assistance in the Commission’s investigations and related enforcement actions. This delegation is intended to conserve Commission resources, enhance the Division’s ability to detect violations of the federal securities laws, increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Division’s investigations, and improve the success of the Commission’s enforcement actions.

Effective Date: This rule is effective January 19, 2010

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission” or “SEC”) is adopting amendments to certain rules that govern money market funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The amendments will tighten the risk-limiting conditions of rule 2a-7 by, among other things, requiring funds to maintain a portion of their portfolios in instruments that can be readily converted to cash, reducing the maximum weighted average maturity of portfolio holdings, and improving the quality of portfolio securities; require money market funds to report their portfolio holdings monthly to the Commission; and permit a money market fund that has “broken the buck” (i.e., re-priced its securities below $1.00 per share), or is at imminent risk of breaking the buck, to suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of fund assets. The amendments are designed to make money market funds more resilient to certain short-term market risks, and to provide greater protections for investors in a money market fund that is unable to maintain a stable net asset value per share.

Effective Date: The rules, rule amendments, and form are effective May 5, 2010. The expiration date for 17 CFR 270.30b1-6T is extended from September 17, 2010 to December 1, 2010. Compliance dates are discussed in Section III of the Supplementary Information.

The Board, OTS, and NCUA (collectively, the Agencies) are exercising their authority under section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act to prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The final rule prohibits institutions from engaging in certain acts or practices in connection with consumer credit card accounts. The final rule relates to other Board rules under the Truth in Lending Act, which are published elsewhere in today‘s Federal Register. Because the Board has proposed new rules regarding overdraft services for deposit accounts under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act elsewhere in today‘s Federal Register, the Agencies are not taking action on overdraft services at this time. A secondary basis for OTS‘s rule is the Home Owners‘ Loan Act.

The final rule is effective on July 1, 2010.

Section 740.4 of NCUA’s rules requires that a federally insured credit union continuously display the official NCUA sign at every teller station or window where insured funds or deposits are normally received. Section 740.4(c) requires that tellers accepting share deposits for both federally insured credit unions and nonfederally insured credit unions also post a second sign adjacent to the official NCUA sign. The current rule requires this second sign to list each federally insured credit union served by the teller along with a statement that only these credit unions are federally insured. Due to the evolution of shared branch networks it is now difficult for some tellers to comply with this second signage requirement and, accordingly, NCUA is revising the rule to replace the required listing of credit unions with a statement that not all of the credit unions served by the teller are federally insured and that members should contact their credit union if they need more information.

This rule is effective April 3, 2009.

NCUA is amending its Regulatory Flexibility (RegFlex) Program to provide additional flexibility to qualifying federal credit unions (FCUs) when acquiring unimproved land for future expansion. Previously, when an FCU acquired unimproved land for future expansion and did not fully occupy the completed premises within one year, it was required to partially occupy the completed premises within three years or obtain a waiver. This amendment increases the three years to six years for RegFlex FCUs without a waiver. NCUA is also making conforming amendments to its fixed asset rule to be consistent with the RegFlex changes.

The rule is effective April 27, 2009.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, NCUA, and FTC (Agencies) are publishing these final rules to implement the accuracy and integrity and direct dispute provisions in section 312 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act) that amended section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The final rules implement the requirement that the Agencies issue guidelines for use by furnishers regarding the accuracy and integrity of the information about consumers that they furnish to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) and prescribe regulations requiring furnishers to establish reasonable policies and procedures for implementing the guidelines. These final rules also implement the requirement that the Agencies issue regulations identifying the circumstances under which a furnisher must reinvestigate disputes about the accuracy of information contained in a consumer report based on a direct request from a consumer.

These rules are effective on July 1, 2010.

NCUA is amending its reporting procedures and record retention requirements to conform regulatory provisions to its new,  Webbased reporting system. The rule incorporates into the regulation a statutory requirement on reporting changes in senior officials  resulting from election or appointments and clarifies requirements on when a credit union files reports with NCUA online. The rule  also provides alternative reporting methods for credit unions unable to submit online reports.

Effective Date: September 1, 2009

NCUA is amending its share insurance rules to: (1) reflect Congress’s extension, until December 31, 2013, of the temporary increase in the standard maximum share insurance amount (“SMSIA”) from $100,000 to $250,000; and (2) finalize the interim final rules on revocable trust accounts, mortgage servicing accounts, and NCUA’s official sign issued in October 2008.

Effective Date: November 30, 2009

Section 741.4 of NCUA’s rules describes the procedures for the capitalization and maintenance of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). The current rule, however, does not adequately address how credit unions that enter or depart the NCUSIF system in a given calendar year are affected by any NCUSIF premium or deposit replenishment assessments in that same year. NCUA is now adopting amendments to § 741.4 to clarify these procedures. The final rule also adds Appendix A to Part 741, which repeats various examples of the application of § 741.4, as discussed in the preamble to the proposed rule.
 

Effective Date: January 4, 2010

On June 24, 2009, the NCUA published an interim final rule amending its lending rules to create a limited exception to the 20-year
maturity limit on second mortgage loans. The amendment will permit Federal credit unions participating in the Department of the Treasury’s Making Home Affordable Program to modify a second mortgage loan, beyond 20 years, to match the term of a modified first mortgage loan. This rule confirms those amendments as final without change.

Effective Date:  December 24, 2009