The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted on three measures that are intended to better inform and empower investors to improve corporate governance and help restore investor confidence.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued Proposed Suggested Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting, “SEA Performance Information”. The purpose of this document is to obtain feedback from constituents on suggested guidelines intended to provide a common framework for the effective external communication of SEA performance information.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued two Exposure Drafts (EDs) of proposed Statements “Accounting and Financial Reporting for Service Concession Arrangements” and “Financial Instruments Omnibus”. The proposed Statements are intended to increase transparency in these financial activities.

In response to the persisting problem of bad quality of assets in the banking sector of Russia, the international rating agency “Fitch Ratings” published its expectations on Russian banks’ need for recapitalization. According to the agency’s basic scenario, the industry will need additional inflows for the value 674 billion rubles (≈22 billion USD); pessimistic scenario will require additional 1 trillion and 880 billion rubles (≈60 billion USD).

The Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) has developed new minimal capital requirements for professional market participants, thus offering almost 3-times increase of the former requirements. This measure is intended to increase capitalization and consolidation of financial market participants, but is strongly opposed by participants themselves who warned that this would lower competitiveness of the whole system and, consequently, increase costs, fees and prices for services.

The Accounting Standards Board (ASB) has today issued a Financial Reporting Exposure Draft (FRED) on Embedded Derivatives proposing amendments to UITF Abstract 42 (IFRIC 9) “Reassessment of Embedded Derivatives” and FRS 26 (IAS 39) “Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement”.

The Board for Actuarial Standards (the BAS) has today published a consultation paper setting out proposals for a technical actuarial standard on pensions.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) today issued two Exposure Drafts (EDs) of proposed Statements “OPEB Measurements by Agent Employers and Agent Multiple-Employer Plans” and “Accounting and Financial Reporting for Chapter 9 Bankruptcies”. The EDs contain proposals intended to improve consistency in the financial reporting and the measurement of retiree health insurance and other postemployment benefits (OPEB) and the effects of Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation hasn’t made a decision yet in respect to external borrowing scheduled for 2010 – said the finance minister’s deputy Dmitry Pankin. “We’ll see later in what form it would be better to attract external funds – whether there will be finances from international organization, a syndicated bank loan, or eurobonds. We’ll decide later”, - he said.

The amendment to PCAOB Rule 4003(g), which was proposed for public comment in December 2008, gives the Board the ability to postpone, for up to three years, the first inspection of any foreign registered public accounting firm that the Board is otherwise required to conduct before the end of 2009 and that is in a jurisdiction in which the Board has not conducted an inspection prior to 2009.