By Jaime Aitken

CCH is a part of Wolters Kluwer – a leading multinational publisher and information services company. Thousands of professionals worldwide rely on our information when making their most critical decisions throughout their daily professional lives.

Wolters Kluwer has operations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. In Canada, CCH represents the Wolters Kluwer global network of publishers, providing a wide range of cross-border and international information services that span across specialty practice areas.

This section in your Law Student eMonthly, Spotlight on Cross-Border Law, features newsbytes on various cross-border and international law topics pulled from our U.S. and international research services.

This issue features a Special Report that provides in-depth analysis of the securities, derivatives, corporate governance, systemic risk and dissolution authority components of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed by the House in December. To access the new White Paper, visit http://www.cch.com/press/news/CCHWhitePaperHR4173.pdf.

CCH also offers a wealth of special resources related to the financial crisis at the CCH Financial Crisis News Center, www.financialcrisisupdate.com. The Center provides the legal community and others with a cohesive and robust selection of breaking news stories, analysis and links to the full text of source documents for regulatory actions and serves as a central entry point for CCH banking and securities law resources related to the crisis.

Sincerely,

Jaime Aitken
International Marketing Manager
Legal and Business Products
CCH Canadian Limited
jaime.aitken@wolterskluwer.com

NEW CCH WHITE PAPER PROVIDES IN-DEPTH LOOK AT PROVISIONS OF FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM LEGISLATION

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., January 5, 2010) – A new White Paper from CCH provides in-depth analysis of the securities, derivatives, corporate governance, systemic risk and dissolution authority components of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed by the House in December. CCH is part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a leading provider of research information and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals.

To read the special new report, House Passes Historic Securities, Derivatives and Systemic Risk Reforms: HR 4173, click here, or visit http://www.cch.com/press/news/CCHWhitePaperHR4173.pdf.

“This bill would be the most significant reform of the U.S. financial system since the New Deal of the 1930s,” said white paper author and CCH Principal Securities Analyst Jim Hamilton, JD.

The legislation would create a Financial Services Oversight Council to monitor systemically significant financial institutions, counterparties and potential threats to the financial system. This ensures that there is no place to hide by closing loopholes, improving consolidated supervision and establishing robust regulatory oversight.

The measure also would provide for the orderly wind-down of failing firms that are systemically significant, ending the notion of “too big to fail.” By dissolving these firms, the Act would end them and avoid more taxpayer bailouts. The bill also offers robust consumer protections and reforms. It puts the regulation of consumer protection on a level playing field with the regulation of safety and soundness of financial institutions. It would create an independent agency focused solely on writing meaningful consumer protection standards and keeping watch over predatory practices that some lenders have shown a propensity to pursue.

Moreover, the legislation increases transparency and accountability by establishing, for the first time, a regulatory system for the over-the-counter derivatives market. Under the new regime, most derivative trades will take place on exchanges or through clearinghouses. Other important aspects of the bill include the registration of hedge funds and the doubling of SEC funding to hire more experts and investigators. Investor protection is substantially strengthened. Also, the regulation of credit rating agencies is enhanced under a new regime supervised by the SEC. A federal insurance office is created to gather information, mitigate systemic risk and provide for insurance expertise to the federal government.

The legislation passed by the House is different from the proposal issued by the Senate Banking Committee last year. A conference committee will likely have to iron out any differences, assuming that the Senate proposal is passed by the full body.

CCH Financial Crisis News Center

CCH also offers a wealth of special resources related to the financial crisis at the CCH Financial Crisis News Center, www.financialcrisisupdate.com. The Center provides the legal community and others with a cohesive and robust selection of breaking news stories, analysis and links to the full text of source documents for regulatory actions and serves as a central entry point for CCH banking and securities law resources related to the crisis.