Compliance December 17, 2008

White House Confirms Bush to Sign RMD Relief

President George Bush will sign into law a bill suspending a requirement that seniors take a required minimum distribution (RMD) from retirement accounts in 2009, the White House has announced.
Reported by

A Dow Jones news report said White House spokesman Tony Fratto confirmed the President’s intention to sign the RMD legislation, but indicated the timing of the bill-signing was uncertain because the White House had not yet received the legislation from Capitol Hill.

In addition to the RMD provisions waiving the a tax penalty for 2009, the bill eases defined benefit plan funding requirements, allowing them more time to meet those requirements. The bill also offers relief to multi-employer plans (See Pension, RMD Relief Waits President’s Signature).

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

According to Dow Jones, the White House had opposed the pension changes, and it had been unclear if it would attempt to block the bill because of it. In November, the White House circulated an informal list of objections to those provisions.

Compliance December 17, 2008

Reports Say Obama to Tap Schapiro to Head SEC

President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly chosen Mary Schapiro, CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Reported by
The Wall Street Journal said the announcement is expected to be made in Chicago tomorrow, citing two Democratic officials.
Schapiro, 53, was appointed a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1988 by President Reagan, reappointed by President Bush in 1989 and named Acting Chairman by President Clinton in 1993.
Schapiro was named President of NASD Regulation in 1996, and was named Vice Chairman in 2002. In 2006, she was named NASD’s Chairman and CEO. The following year, she led the organization’s consolidation with NYSE Member Regulation to form FINRA. Before that she was Chairman of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a post she was appointed to by President Clinton in 1994.

«