SEC Chair and European Union Financial Services Commissioner Meet

On February 26, the SEC Chair Mary Jo White hosted a meeting with European Union Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill. Chair White and Commissioner Hill discussed the importance of international cooperation in regulating global financial markets and a variety of other topics of mutual interest, including market structure, asset management, accounting standards and small business capital formation. They also discussed Commissioner Hill's proposal for an EU Capital Markets Union. Release.

FHFA House Price Index Shows Increases for Fourteen Consecutive Quarters

On February 26, the FHFA House Price Index showed that U.S. house prices rose 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. This marked the fourteenth consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. House prices rose 4.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013 to fourth quarter of 2014. Release.

Federal Reserve Board Extends Comment Period

On February 26, the Federal Reserve Board extended until April 3 the comment period for its proposed rule to implement capital surcharges for the largest, most systemically important U.S. bank holding companies. The proposed rule would establish a methodology to identify whether a firm is a global systemically important banking organization and would also establish the size of a firm's risk-based capital surcharge. The proposal is designed to further strengthen the capital positions of these institutions. Release.

CFTC Reopens Comment Periods

On February 24, the CFTC submitted for publication in the Federal Register a notice reopening the comment periods for the two Position Limit rulemakings, in anticipation of questions and comments that may arise from the Commission's Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee meeting. Release.

On February 23, DBRS releases its Criteria for Guarantees and other forms of explicit support. Report.

New FAQ's Regarding the Scope and Implementation of the Volcker Rule Issued by the U.S. Banking, Securities and Commodities Regulatory Agencies

On February 27, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a new set of frequently asked questions and responses regarding the scope and implementation of Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as the "Volcker Rule." Among the issues addressed are:

Loan Securitization Servicing Assets: Are the "rights or other assets" described in § 44.10(c)(8)(i)(B) of the Volcker Rule ("servicing assets") limited to "permitted securities," or can other assets be servicing assets for purposes of the loan securitization exclusion?

Mortgage-Backed Securities of Government-Sponsored Enterprise: How are certain mortgage-backed securities issuers sponsored by government-sponsored enterprises treated under the final rule's covered funds provisions?

Covered Fund Exemption; Marketing Restriction on Foreign Banking Organization: The Volcker Rule provides an exemption for certain covered fund activities conducted by foreign banking entities (known as the "SOTUS Covered Fund Exemption") provided that, among other conditions, "no ownership interest in such hedge fund or private equity fund is offered for sale or sold to a resident of the United States" (the "marketing restriction"). Does the marketing restriction apply only to the activities of a foreign banking entity that is seeking to rely on the SOTUS covered fund exemption or does it apply more generally to the activities of any person offering for sale or selling ownership interests in the covered fund?

Conformance Period: How do the requirements of the Volcker Rule apply to a banking entity during the conformance period? For instance, must a banking entity deduct its investment in a covered fund from its tier 1 capital prior to the end of the conformance period?

Foreign Public Fund Seeding Vehicles: The Volcker Rule excludes from the definition of covered fund a registered investment company and business development company, including an entity that is formed and operated pursuant to a written plan to become one of these entities. Would an entity that is formed and operated pursuant to a written plan to become a foreign public fund receive the same treatment?

Link to the website of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that sets forth the FAQ's.

Morgan Stanley Reaches Agreement to End DOJ Investigation into MBS Deals

On February 25, Morgan Stanley announced that it reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Califoirnia, Civil Division (collectively, the "Civil Division") to resolve claims that the Civil Division intended to bring against Morgan Stanley related to residential mortgage-backed securities. As part of the settlement, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay the Civil Division $2.6 billion. The exact nature of the resolved claims and additional terms of the settlement agreement were not specified. 8-K.

ECB Publishes Eurosystem Oversight Report

On February 27, the European Central Bank ("ECB") published its 2014 Eurosystem oversight report, the third such report, reviewing the oversight that the Eurosystem has performed in the period from 2011 to mid-2014. The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the Eurozone and consists of the European Central Bank and the central banks of each of the Eurozone member states.

The oversight report focuses on the Eurosystem's oversight of financial market infrastructures, including payment systems, securities and derivatives clearing and settlement systems and trade repositories.

The oversight report also discusses future work priorities. The future work priorities state that the oversight priorities of the Eurosystem will still be driven by the implementation measures of the regulatory reform process and the need to avoid the emergence of systemic risks in the Eurozone. The Eurosystem will also conduct assessments of the design and operation of T2S, the securities settlement platform operated by the Eurosystem that is set to go live in June 2015. Finally the Eurosystem will continue to conduct regular analyses of correspondent banking activities and is currently reviewing its assessment guides for credit cards, direct debits and credit transfers. Report.

EBA Opinion on Regulation of EU Lending-Based Crowdfunding

On February 26, the European Banking Authority ("EBA") published an opinion on lending-based crowdfunding. The opinion notes that certain Member States (France, Italy, Spain and the UK) have created specific regulations to address risks arising from crowdfunding. Italy's regulation only covers investment-based crowdfunding. In Spain, the draft law in the final approval stages. The EBA concludes that the convergence of practices across the EU for the supervision of crowdfunding is desirable in order to avoid regulatory arbitrage, create a level playing field, ensure that market participants can have confidence in crowdfunding, and contribute to the single European market.

The EBA considers that crowdfunding, whilst still at an early stage, should be regulated by existing legislation, the most relevant being the Payment Services Directive (the "Directive"), but acknowledges that the lending aspects of crowdfunding are not regulated by EU law.

The EBA also stated that the business models of lending-based crowdfunding platforms do not fall inside the perimeter of credit institutions with the result that funds provided by lenders to crowdfunding platforms would not qualify as deposits eligible for protection under a deposit guarantee scheme, representing a further risk to lenders. Opinion.