September 9, 2002 News Archive

Regulators Issue Draft Paper on Sound Practices to Strengthen the Resilience of the Financial System
The Board issued an interagency draft white paper (PDF) on sound practices to strengthen the resilience of the overall U.S. financial system. The sound practices identified reflect preliminary conclusions based on interviews with industry representatives about actions being taken to strengthen their ability to recover and resume critical business activities in the event of future wide-scale, regional disruptions. The paper also discusses appropriate timetables for completing reviews and revisions of business continuity plans and implementation of the sound practices.

The agencies request comment on the appropriate scope and application of the sound practices and related issues by October 21, 2002.

SEC Approves Rules Implementing Provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved final rules related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The rules implement Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that require institutions filing 10-K or 10-Q reports to have their principal executive and financial officers certify their quarterly and annual reports. The SEC also adopted new disclosure rules regarding Web site access to reports as well as amendments to accelerate the filing deadlines for 10-K and 10 -Q reports. The rules went into effect on August 29, 2002.