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    Mar. 17, 2008

Equitable Solution? SEC, CFTC Enhancing Cooperation

  • The SEC and CFTC entered into a mutual cooperation agreement that promises to encourage a stronger working relationship between the two key regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over structured financial products.
  • Practitioners should expect to see more coordination and solidarity from both the SEC and CFTC in reviews and investigations of new financial products.
  • Regulatory consolidation is consistent with trend of industry cross-border consolidation.

All Roads Lead to the Chief Compliance Officer: a Report from the Recent Institutional Investor Events Chief Compliance Officer Forum

  • Detailed coverage of Institutional Investor Events’ Third Annual Chief Compliance Officer Forum.
  • SEC focusing on, with respect to hedge funds: valuation, disclosure, insider trading and preferential redemption terms.
  • SEC has recommended forensic tests that hedge fund advisers can perform to help ensure the integrity of valuations of portfolio securities.
  • FASB 157 specifies factors for hedge fund advisers to consider when measuring fair values.

The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Issues Policy Statement on Financial Market Developments

  • President’s Working Group on Financial Markets released a set of comprehensive recommendations designed to stabilize the current turmoil in the financial markets, including the following key recommendations:
  • Reform of the mortgage origination process.
  • Improve investors’ contribution to market discipline.
  • Reform the credit rating processes and practices regarding structured credit and other securitized credit products.
  • Strengthen global financial institutions’ risk management practices.
  • Enhance prudential regulatory policies.
  • Enhance the OTC derivatives market infrastructure.

Senior Supervisors Group Issues Observations on Risk Management Practices During the Recent Market Turbulence

  • According to the Senior Supervisors Group, firms that dealt most successfully with the market turmoil of late 2007 demonstrated:
  • Better flow of information across the firm and more rigorous internal valuation mechanisms.
  • Effective management of funding liquidity, capital and the balance sheet.
  • Informative and responsive risk management practices.
  • In particular, three business lines where varying practices differentiated performance in response to the credit crunch were: CDO structuring, trading and warehousing; leveraged financing loans; and conduit and SIV businesses.

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Women to Watch: Contributions, Achievements and Observations of Outstanding Female Professionals

To mark International Women’s Day, women editors and reporters at ION Analytics interviewed outstanding women in the industries and jurisdictions we cover. In this part, Law Report Group editors Jill Abitbol, Robin L. Barton and Megan Zwiebel profile notable women in data privacy, cybersecurity, private funds and anti-corruption law, including Anne-Gabrielle Haie, Jessica Lee, Micaela McMurrough, Laura Perkins, Amanda Raad, Madelyn Calabrese, Ranah Esmaili and Genna Garver. Enjoy reading their inspiring remarks here.