Washington D.C., Dec. 27, 2013 —
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has adopted
amendments to eliminate references in certain of its rules and forms to credit
ratings by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSROs).
The changes were required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act and remove credit rating references from:
- Rule 5b-3 under the Investment Company Act — a rule
that permits funds to look through repurchase agreements to the underlying
collateral securities for certain counterparty limitation and diversification
purposes provided the collateral meets certain credit quality
standards
- Forms N-1A, N-2, and N-3 — forms that contain
requirements for funds to report information about their activities
to shareholders, including information about the credit quality of their
portfolios
- Rule 15c3-1 (and certain appendices) under the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 — a rule that requires broker-dealers to maintain more
than a dollar of highly liquid assets for each dollar of liabilities, which
helps ensure that if the broker-dealer fails, it will have sufficient liquid
assets to cover its liabilities
- Rule 15c3-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 — a rule that prohibits broker-dealers
from using customer securities and cash to finance the firm´s own
business. By segregating customer securities and cash from the firm´s
proprietary business activities, the rule increases the likelihood that
customer assets will be readily available to be returned to customers if the
broker-dealer fails.
- Rule 10b-10 under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 — the SEC´s confirmation rule that
generally requires broker-dealers effecting transactions for customers in
securities other than U.S. savings bonds or municipal securities to provide
those customers with written notification of the terms of the transaction at
or before the completion of the transaction.