March 9
- Effective Date Effective date of CFTC final rule on real-time public reporting of public swap transaction data
March 13
- Effective Date Effective date of CFTC final rule on swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements
March 19
- Effective Date Effective date of CFTC final rule on registration of swap dealers and major swap participants
March 26
- Comments Due Comments due on annual OCC stress test
March 31
- Comments Due Comments due on enhanced prudential standards and early remediation requirements for covered companies
April 1
- Effective Date 4/1/12 – Effective date of FDIC final rule on resolution plans for insured depository institutions over $50 billion
For Issa, SEC funding, civil service status is 'excess weight'
Following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darryl Issa (R-CA) added his voice to Republican attacks on regulatory funding and civil service protection.
"Let's make sure that what we're cutting is really excess weight," Obama said in his speech, but Issa in an interview with Complinet said he would be aggressive in trimming the budgets of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Issa said he favors rolling back SEC and CFTC funding to Fiscal 2008 levels, while giving the regulators leeway as to where to make the cuts. He was adamant in his opposition to giving the agencies the funds they say they need to implement the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
In attacking the SEC's request for increased funding, Issa said the agency had the money it needed to stop the fraudulent financier Bernard Madoff but failed to do so.
Issa criticized the Dodd-Frank Act for leaving open what he called a high probability of another financial crisis, saying "moral hazard" needs to be reintroduced so bankers know the government won't bail them out if their institutions fail.
Issa also said curbing civil service protection "could well be part" of his agenda for regulatory reform, suggesting that SEC employees who are free from political pressure and make salaries over the federal pay scale should not enjoy civil service job security.
Issa's remarks echoed comments late last year by Scott Garrett (R-NJ), the new House Financial Services capital markets subcommittee chairman, that he wanted to look at curtailing civil service protection for SEC employees.
During his speech, Obama called for a five-year freeze on domestic spending. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) told Complinet the freeze encompasses federal domestic outlays as a whole and would exempt the SEC.
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) told Complinet that while Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) has scheduled a hearing to look at Dodd-Frank restrictions on interchange fees on debit card transactions, the so-called "Durbin amendment," the limits are unlikely to be repealed.
Senate Banking Committee member Jack Reed (D-RI) said the fees limits are safe as well, noting he hasn't heard anyone say they should be changed.
March 23