The French Parliament has adopted measures to stabilize French financial markets, which include the issuance of debt securities by a newly created entity (Société de Refinancement des Activités des Etablissements de Crédit or SRAEC), which will be backed by French government guarantees (up to Euro 265 billion).  Amounts received from these issuances will be used to fund loan facilities to French financial institutions. On October 30, France provided SRAEC an initial guarantee of Euro 25 billion.  SRAEC October 30 Order.  SRAEC By-Law Approval.

The administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (“LBIE”) notified creditors on November 4 of their proposals for the administration of LBIE, which include establishing a creditors’ committee which will propose extending the administration beyond the statutory period of one year.  The first creditors’ meeting of LBIE will be held on November 14 at IndigO2 in the O2 Arena in Greenwich, London.  LBIE Statement of Proposals.

On October 30, IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (ICE) and The Clearing Corporation (TCC) announced agreements to advance a global clearing solution for credit default swaps (CDS).  Under these agreements, ICE will acquire TCC and, with the support of 9 major U.S. financial institutions, form a limited purpose trust company to serve as a central counterparty clearing system for the CDS market.  Press Release.

The ASF and SIFMA filed comment letters on October 30 with the FASB in response to the recently released exposure drafts on FIN 46(R) and FAS 140. With respect to the FIN 46(R) exposure draft, the ASF and SIFMA recommended that the FASB step back and fundamentally reconsider the optimal consolidation policy for variable interest entities, with a goal of international convergence of accounting standards in this area.  Comment Letters.