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BNP Paribas Managing Director and FIASI Vice President Mark Howard was recently interviewed by Bloomberg reporters. His views on certain current topics related to the corporate, high yield and sovereign debt markets can be seen in the videos attached below.

• Howard: Corporate Bond Market Will Be Flat in 2013

It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Russ Fraser. Russ passed away on November 21st at his home in Littleton, CO. Although he was unable to attend FIASI meeting or functions in recent days, he remembered FIASI with fondness. The family requests donations to National Jewish Health, Denver in lieu of flowers.

H. Russell Fraser, 71, passed away Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at his home in Littleton, Colorado.

Russ was a leader in the municipal bond insurance and credit rating industries for more than 40 years. He created and built new and innovative financial service businesses, never compromising his core principles. In many circles, he is considered the father of the municipal bond insurance industry having been instrumental in building the American Municipal Bond Assurance Corporation (AMBAC) into a multi-billion dollar enterprise before selling it to Citibank in 1985.

Read more: In Memoriam: H. Russell Fraser

Important new regulatory changes are going into effect that will influence the business practices of many Fixed Income Researchers. The CFTC has announced final rules for research that involves derivatives. These are likely to go into effect in the middle of 2012 (please click the link for details).

• http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@newsroom/documents/file/federalregister022312b.pdf

In addition, FINRA has recently posted its second draft of comprehensive new rules for sell-side fixed income researchers. This version changed in substantial ways from the draft last fall. Its comment period ends in early April, so interested parties must speak up shortly.

• http://finra.complinet.com/en/display/display_main.html?rbid=2403&element_id=10593

Regardless of your side of the business, changes of this magnitude for the dealer community are destined to have profound ripple effects on the buy-side, rating agencies, independent research providers and others.

Members may find the following links and resources useful. 

• www.altmanzscoreclassic.com

  FIASI members receive a 15% discount for Altman Z-Score Classic App purchased from altmanzscoreclassic.com web site. Use coupon code FIASI (15% discount) while purchasing the app.

   

As you may have seen recently in the letter from our President, David Munves, the Board is pursuing several initiatives to make membership in FIASI more valuable.

FIASI is expanding our LinkedIn group to provide members with more educational and networking opportunities between Speaker Series events. Please submit industry-related news articles and details about upcoming events directly to the group or to . If you have any questions or need help joining please do not hesitate to ask.

Thank you for all who participated in FIASI's recent survey. We will be sharing key takeaways with members in the coming weeks.