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Members of Congress Urge SEC to Act on Rating Agency Reform The SEC held a roundtable May 14 to discuss a new system wherein an independent board would randomly assign initial ratings to nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs). Needless to say, the concept generated many opinions.
May 16, 2013
Treasurers Take Note: FSOC Refining Focus The FSOC unanimously approved its third annual report recently, underscoring several systemic threats facing the financial system of interest to treasurers, including market runs, cyberattack vulnerabilities, interest-rate reform and overreliance on intraday credit extensions.
May 07, 2013
SEC Commissioner Hints at Money Market Fund Proposal Near In a recent interview SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher said he expects new rules governing money-market mutual funds to be proposed within two months. The proposal would include a floating NAV, Gallagher said.
Apr 11, 2013
CFTC Extends Swap Reporting Enforcement for Businesses The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday issued an enforcement delay on reporting requirements for end-user counterparties to swap transactions. The scheduled reporting compliance date had been April 10 for counterparties that were neither "swap dealers" nor "major swap participants."
Apr 10, 2013
Congress and White House Divided on Corporate Tax Reform Back in 2009, the White House, Congress and Corporate America seemed to agree that corporate tax rates should be set in the range comparable to other developed nations and that lowering the basic tax rate was likely the best approach. Now, as policymakers begin to discuss specific details associated with lowering general rates, Congress and the White House appear to be on different tracks.
Apr 04, 2013
CFTC to Delay Swap Reporting Rules for Corporate End-Users? The compliance deadline for corporate end-user reporting requirements under Dodd-Frank is fast approaching. CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton believes enforcement should be suspended until the end of October.
Apr 03, 2013
Top Business Execs Renew Call for Corporate Tax Reform Leading U.S. corporations are pressuring Congress to cut corporate tax rates. Top executives from FedEx, CVS, Boeing, Disney and others sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee, calling for reform of the nation’s tax code.
Apr 01, 2013
New Treasury Secretary Open to Foreign Corporate Tax Reform? Washington policymakers have become increasingly more vocal about their desires to fundamentally change the tax code that governs the income that U.S. based companies earn outside of the country. New Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has indicated that he sees the potential for agreement on international taxation and made mention of this to Senators.
Mar 05, 2013
Former SEC Officials Differ on MMF Reforms Last week, former officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), urging it to stop pressuring the SEC to enforce tighter regulations on money-market funds. However, another former SEC chairman believes that the FSOC has no choice but to intervene.
Feb 26, 2013
DOJ Leads Charge in Legal Suit against Standard & Poor’s The Department of Justice is suing Standard & Poor’s, alleging that the credit rating agency misled investors and knowingly assigned faulty ratings to investment products during the financial crisis. AFP firmly believes that fundamental changes to the current business models of credit rating agencies must be enacted in order to correct the systemic problems plaguing the system.
Feb 12, 2013
AFP Sends Comment Letter to FSOC on Money Market Funds Reform In response to a request for comment by FSOC on proposed action encouraged to be taken by the SEC to reform the money market funds industry, AFP submitted a letter on January 22
Jan 30, 2013
TAG Extension Fails to Advance in Senate Debate The Senate failed to advance the two-year extension of Transaction Account Guarantee (TAG) program.
Dec 13, 2012
TAG Extension Clears Senate Procedural Motion A two-year extension of the Transaction Account Guarantee (TAG), which provides unlimited deposit insurance coverage for non-interest bearing accounts and a short-term investment option for many treasurers, cleared a procedural motion in the Senate on Tuesday.
Dec 12, 2012
Geithner, FSOC Mandate More Money-Market Fund Reforms The Financial Stability Oversight Council approved three possible recommendations Tuesday—any one of which would drastically restructure money market funds.
Nov 14, 2012
MMF Reform: Treasury Pros Mixed on Geithner's New Effort With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging the FSOC to move forward on tighter regulations on money market funds, the debate continues, and corporates should take note. AFP spoke with several treasury professionals on whether new MMF rules are imminent.
Oct 01, 2012
Geithner Gives New Life to Money-Market Fund Proposals Just weeks after U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary L. Schapiro canceled a vote on her proposals to address the susceptibility of money-market funds (MMF) to runs, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner added new fuel to the proverbial fires.
Sep 28, 2012
AFP Members Overwhelmingly Positive on MMF Vote Cancellation SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro’s decision to cancel the vote on further money-market fund (MMF) regulation was met with a highly positive reaction from AFP members and staff.
Aug 23, 2012
Just Say No: Schapiro Cancels SEC Money-Market Reforms Vote Unable to move her money-market funds reform proposal, SEC Chariman Mary Schapiro throws in the towel. The FSOC could revive future reform efforts.
Aug 23, 2012
More Resistance to SEC Money Fund Proposals from Congress Members of U.S. Congress write to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro on money market fund reforms urging for careful consideration of impact that proposed reforms may have on cash management operations of U.S. businesses.
Aug 08, 2012
Holding Fast: Results of the 2012 AFP Liquidity Survey In May 2012, the Association for Financial Professionals conducted its seventh annual Liquidity Survey to provide financial professionals with an understanding of how organizations manage their short-term investment portfolios. Through the end of May, the survey generated 391 responses, which are the basis of this report.
Aug 08, 2012
New MMF Reforms Present Short-Term Investing Challenge What connects the possible three new money market fund reforms? A floating NAV, holdback provisions, and a liquidity backstop or capital funding requirement for funds each poses a specific challenge to one of the three core tenets of short-term investment management: safety, liquidity and yield.
Jul 30, 2012
FSOC Report Supports Long-Awaited SEC MMF Reform Proposals In its annual report to Congress, the Financial Stability Oversight Council recommended that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission publish money market fund reforms supported by SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro: Implementing a mandatory floating NAV, and/or implementing a capital buffer to absorb losses, possibly combined with a redemption restriction to reduce the incentive to exit the fund.
Jul 25, 2012
NY Fed Supports 30-Day Hold on MMF Redemptions The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has voiced its support for regulation that would require money market funds to hold a portion of investors’ money for 30 days in order to stave off a potential run.
Jul 20, 2012
Business Groups Rally Congress to Enact Comprehensive Tax Reform The Business Roundtable sent a letter to Congress and the White House urging lawmakers to consider comprehensive tax reform by the end of 2012.
Jul 20, 2012
Speculation Grows Around Proposed SEC Changes to MMFs According to a July 10 news report, the SEC is considering requiring money market funds to hold a small capital buffer of less than 1 percent of the overall value of a fund's holdings. A senior SEC official signaled that the general size of a capital buffer the agency is weighing would insulate money funds from sudden losses in the values of their holdings.
Jul 13, 2012

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