17 CFR Part 240 - GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS, SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

We are adopting amendments to the expiration dates in our interim final rules that provide exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 for those security-based swaps that prior to July 16, 2011 were security-based swap agreements and are defined as “securities” under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act as of July 16, 2011 due solely to the provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under the amendments, the expiration dates in the interim final rules will be extended to February 11, 2014.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting amendments to Rule 17Ad-17 to implement the requirements of Section 929W of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). That Section added to Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) subsection (g), “Due Diligence for the Delivery of Dividends, Interest, and Other Valuable Property Rights,” which directs the Commission to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17, “Transfer Agents' Obligation to Search for Lost Securityholders” to: extend the requirements of Rule 17Ad-17 to search for lost securityholders from only recordkeeping transfer agents to brokers and dealers as well; add a requirement that “paying agents” notify “unresponsive payees” that a paying agent has sent a securityholder a check that has not yet been negotiated; and add certain other provisions. The Commission also is adopting a proposed conforming amendment to Rule 17Ad-7(i) and new Rule 15b1-6, a technical rule to help ensure that brokers and dealers have notice of their new obligations with respect to lost securityholders and unresponsive payees.

On December 10, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register to amend its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013, and amend the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The document contained an error with respect to the placement and numbering of a footnote.

The Commission is amending its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates for certain requirements therein and amending the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The Commission is extending the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013 in order to prevent the scenario that such filings are required to be filed with the Commission through a system that is not yet technologically able to accept them.

This release makes a technical correction to Release No. 34-67717 (August 22, 2012), which adopted disclosure rules for resource extraction issuers and was published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2012 (77 FR 56365). We are correcting the release to include the text of a footnote that was omitted when published.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) is adopting a new rule in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The new rule establishes minimum requirements regarding how registered clearing agencies must maintain effective risk management procedures and controls as well as meet the statutory requirements under the Exchange Act on an ongoing basis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15Ba2-6T, which provides for the temporary registration of municipal advisors under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), to extend the date on which Rule 15Ba2-6T (and consequently Form MA-T) will sunset from September 30, 2012, to September 30, 2013. Under the amendment, all temporary registrations submitted pursuant to Rule 15Ba2-6T also will expire no later than September 30, 2013.

On July 16, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published an interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T to extend the date on which the rule will expire. That rule omitted a comment date and an addresses section in its preamble. This correction adds the comment date and address information in the following captions.

In accordance with section 712(a)(8), section 712(d)(1), sections 712(d)(2)(B) and (C), sections 721(b) and (c), and section 761(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are jointly adopting new rules and interpretations under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to further define the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement” (collectively, “Product Definitions”); regarding “mixed swaps;” and governing books and records with respect to “security-based swap agreements.” The CFTC requests comment on its interpretation concerning forwards with embedded volumetric optionality, contained in Section II.B.2.(b)(ii) of this release.

On July 13, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register (77 FR 41602), concerning, among other things, the process for submissions for review of security-based swaps for mandatory clearing and notice filing requirements for clearing agencies. The document contained typographical errors in the preamble and in the general authority for Part 240. The Commission is publishing corrections to the preamble and the general authority as well as a clarification concerning the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number for Rule 3Ca-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the date on which the rule will expire from July 16, 2012 to July 16, 2013.

In accordance with Section 763(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to specify the process for a registered clearing agency's submission for review of any security-based swap, or any group, category, type or class of security-based swaps, that the clearing agency plans to accept for clearing, the manner of notice the clearing agency must provide to its members of such submission and the procedure by which the Commission may stay the requirement that a security-based swap is subject to mandatory clearing while the clearing of the security-based swap is reviewed. The Commission also is adopting a rule to specify that when a security-based swap is required to be cleared, the submission of the security-based swap for clearing must be for central clearing to a clearing agency that functions as a central counterparty. In addition, the Commission is adopting rules to define and describe when notices of proposed changes to rules, procedures or operations are required to be filed by designated financial market utilities in accordance with Section 806(e) of Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act and to set forth the process for filing such notices with the Commission. Finally, the Commission is adopting rules to make conforming changes as required by the amendments to Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act contained in Section 916 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission are correcting final rules that appeared in the Federal Register of May 23, 2012 (77 FR 30596). The rules further defined the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant” and “eligible contract participant.” Only the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are subject to this correction. This document also corrects a footnote in the Supplementary Information accompanying the final rules.

We are adopting a new rule and amendments to our proxy disclosure rules to implement Section 952 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which added Section 10C to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10C requires the Commission to adopt rules directing the national securities exchanges and national securities associations to prohibit the listing of any equity security of an issuer that is not in compliance with Section 10C's compensation committee and compensation adviser requirements. In accordance with the statute, new Rule 10C-1 directs the national securities exchanges to establish listing standards that, among other things, require each member of a listed issuer's compensation committee to be a member of the board of directors and to be “independent,” as defined in the listing standards of the national securities exchanges adopted in accordance with the final rule. In addition, pursuant to Section 10C(c)(2), we are adopting amendments to our proxy disclosure rules concerning issuers' use of compensation consultants and related conflicts of interest.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, the “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are adopting new rules and interpretive guidance under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), to further define the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant,” and “eligible contract participant.”

We are adopting exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 for security-based swaps issued by certain clearing agencies satisfying certain conditions. The final rules exempt transactions by clearing agencies in these security-based swaps from all provisions of the Securities Act, other than the Section 17(a) anti-fraud provisions, as well as exempt these security-based swaps from Exchange Act registration requirements and from the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act, provided certain conditions are met.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) is affirming recent amendments to Rule 19b-4 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) in connection with filings of proposed rule changes by certain registered clearing agencies and is expanding on those amendments in response to comments received (collectively, “Final Rule”). The Commission also is making corresponding technical modifications to the General Instructions for Form 19b-4 under the Exchange Act. The amendments to Rule 19b-4 and the instructions to Form 19b-4 are intended to streamline the rule filing process in areas involving certain activities concerning non-security products that may be subject to duplicative or inconsistent regulation as a result of, in part, certain provisions under Section 763(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”).

We are adopting amendments to the expiration dates in our interim final rules that provide exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 for those security-based swaps that prior to July 16, 2011 were security-based swap agreements and are defined as “securities” under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act as of July 16, 2011 due solely to the provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under the amendments, the expiration dates in the interim final rules will be extended to February 11, 2014.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting amendments to Rule 17Ad-17 to implement the requirements of Section 929W of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). That Section added to Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) subsection (g), “Due Diligence for the Delivery of Dividends, Interest, and Other Valuable Property Rights,” which directs the Commission to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17, “Transfer Agents' Obligation to Search for Lost Securityholders” to: extend the requirements of Rule 17Ad-17 to search for lost securityholders from only recordkeeping transfer agents to brokers and dealers as well; add a requirement that “paying agents” notify “unresponsive payees” that a paying agent has sent a securityholder a check that has not yet been negotiated; and add certain other provisions. The Commission also is adopting a proposed conforming amendment to Rule 17Ad-7(i) and new Rule 15b1-6, a technical rule to help ensure that brokers and dealers have notice of their new obligations with respect to lost securityholders and unresponsive payees.

On November 23, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule for public comment to establish capital, margin, and segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and amend capital requirements for broker-dealers. The Commission is extending the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments.

On December 10, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register to amend its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013, and amend the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The document contained an error with respect to the placement and numbering of a footnote.

The Commission is amending its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates for certain requirements therein and amending the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The Commission is extending the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013 in order to prevent the scenario that such filings are required to be filed with the Commission through a system that is not yet technologically able to accept them.

Technical corrections are being made to the Commission's Release No. 34-68071, which proposed capital and margin requirements for security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”) and major security-based swap participants (“MSBSPs”), segregation requirements for SBSDs, and notification requirements with respect to segregation for SBSDs and MSBSPs, as well as increases to the minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers permitted to use the alternative internal model-based method for computing net capital.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) is adopting a new rule in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The new rule establishes minimum requirements regarding how registered clearing agencies must maintain effective risk management procedures and controls as well as meet the statutory requirements under the Exchange Act on an ongoing basis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15Ba2-6T, which provides for the temporary registration of municipal advisors under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), to extend the date on which Rule 15Ba2-6T (and consequently Form MA-T) will sunset from September 30, 2012, to September 30, 2013. Under the amendment, all temporary registrations submitted pursuant to Rule 15Ba2-6T also will expire no later than September 30, 2013.

On July 16, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published an interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T to extend the date on which the rule will expire. That rule omitted a comment date and an addresses section in its preamble. This correction adds the comment date and address information in the following captions.

In accordance with section 712(a)(8), section 712(d)(1), sections 712(d)(2)(B) and (C), sections 721(b) and (c), and section 761(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are jointly adopting new rules and interpretations under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to further define the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement” (collectively, “Product Definitions”); regarding “mixed swaps;” and governing books and records with respect to “security-based swap agreements.” The CFTC requests comment on its interpretation concerning forwards with embedded volumetric optionality, contained in Section II.B.2.(b)(ii) of this release.

On July 13, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register (77 FR 41602), concerning, among other things, the process for submissions for review of security-based swaps for mandatory clearing and notice filing requirements for clearing agencies. The document contained typographical errors in the preamble and in the general authority for Part 240. The Commission is publishing corrections to the preamble and the general authority as well as a clarification concerning the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number for Rule 3Ca-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”).

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the date on which the rule will expire from July 16, 2012 to July 16, 2013.

In accordance with Section 763(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to specify the process for a registered clearing agency's submission for review of any security-based swap, or any group, category, type or class of security-based swaps, that the clearing agency plans to accept for clearing, the manner of notice the clearing agency must provide to its members of such submission and the procedure by which the Commission may stay the requirement that a security-based swap is subject to mandatory clearing while the clearing of the security-based swap is reviewed. The Commission also is adopting a rule to specify that when a security-based swap is required to be cleared, the submission of the security-based swap for clearing must be for central clearing to a clearing agency that functions as a central counterparty. In addition, the Commission is adopting rules to define and describe when notices of proposed changes to rules, procedures or operations are required to be filed by designated financial market utilities in accordance with Section 806(e) of Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act and to set forth the process for filing such notices with the Commission. Finally, the Commission is adopting rules to make conforming changes as required by the amendments to Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act contained in Section 916 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission are correcting final rules that appeared in the Federal Register of May 23, 2012 (77 FR 30596). The rules further defined the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant” and “eligible contract participant.” Only the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are subject to this correction. This document also corrects a footnote in the Supplementary Information accompanying the final rules.

We are adopting a new rule and amendments to our proxy disclosure rules to implement Section 952 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which added Section 10C to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10C requires the Commission to adopt rules directing the national securities exchanges and national securities associations to prohibit the listing of any equity security of an issuer that is not in compliance with Section 10C's compensation committee and compensation adviser requirements. In accordance with the statute, new Rule 10C-1 directs the national securities exchanges to establish listing standards that, among other things, require each member of a listed issuer's compensation committee to be a member of the board of directors and to be “independent,” as defined in the listing standards of the national securities exchanges adopted in accordance with the final rule. In addition, pursuant to Section 10C(c)(2), we are adopting amendments to our proxy disclosure rules concerning issuers' use of compensation consultants and related conflicts of interest.

We are requesting public comment on a statement of general policy (“Statement”) on the anticipated sequencing of the compliance dates of final rules to be adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to certain provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by those provisions (“Exchange Act”). These provisions establish a framework for the regulation of security-based swaps and security-based swap market participants under the Exchange Act. The Statement presents a sequencing of the compliance dates for these final rules by grouping the rules into five categories and describes the interconnectedness of the compliance dates for these rules, both within and among the five categories. The Statement also describes the timing of the expiration of the relief previously granted by the Commission that provided exemptions from certain provisions of the Exchange Act, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, the “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are adopting new rules and interpretive guidance under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), to further define the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant,” and “eligible contract participant.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is reopening the comment period for proposed amendments to its net capital, customer protection, books and records, and notification rules for broker-dealers under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), which was issued by the Commission on March 9, 2007. The original comment period for the proposed amendments closed on May 18, 2007, and the Commission extended the public comment period until June 18, 2007. The Commission did not act on the rules at that time. The Commission is presently reconsidering the proposed rule amendments. Given the passage of time since the amendments were proposed, the Commission is reopening for 30 days the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments.

We are adopting exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 for security-based swaps issued by certain clearing agencies satisfying certain conditions. The final rules exempt transactions by clearing agencies in these security-based swaps from all provisions of the Securities Act, other than the Section 17(a) anti-fraud provisions, as well as exempt these security-based swaps from Exchange Act registration requirements and from the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act, provided certain conditions are met.