agencies ’ respective rulemakings on risk - management standards for financial market utilities, and we are working with market regulators and central banks in other countries to update the international standards for these types of utilities. the transfer of the federal reserve ’ s consumer protection responsibilities specified in the act to the new bureau of consumer financial protection ( cfpb ) is well under way. a team at the board, headed by governor duke, is working closely with the staff at the cfpb and at the treasury to facilitate the transition. we have provided technical assistance as well as staff members to the cfpb to assist it in setting up its functions. we have finalized funding agreements and provided initial funding to the cfpb. moreover, we have made substantial progress toward a framework for transferring federal reserve staff members to the cfpb and integrating cfpb employees into the relevant federal reserve benefit programs. one of the federal reserve ’ s most important dodd - frank implementation projects is to develop more - stringent prudential standards for all large banking organizations and nonbank firms designated by the council. besides capital, liquidity, and resolution plans, these standards will include federal reserve - and firm - conducted stress tests, new counterparty credit limits, and risk - management requirements. we are working to produce a wellintegrated set of rules that will significantly strengthen the prudential framework for large, complex financial firms and the financial system. complementing these efforts under dodd - frank, the federal reserve has been working for some time with other regulatory agencies and central banks around the world to design and implement a stronger set of prudential requirements for internationally active banking firms. these efforts resulted in the adoption in the summer of 2009 of more - stringent regulatory capital standards for trading activities and securitization exposures. and, of course, it also includes the agreements reached in the past couple of months on the major elements of the new basel iii prudential framework for globally active banks. basel iii should make the financial system more stable and reduce the likelihood of future financial crises by requiring these banks to hold more and better - quality capital and more - robust liquidity buffers. we are committed to adopting the basel iii framework in a timely manner. in december 2010, we requested comment with the other u. s. banking agencies on proposed rules that would implement the 2009 trading book reforms, and we are already working to incorporate other aspects of the basel iii framework into u. s. regulations. to be

contributed significantly to the council ’ s recent studies – one on the volcker rule ’ s restrictions on banking entities ’ proprietary trading and private fund activities and a second one on the act ’ s financial - sector concentration limit. and we are now developing for public comment the necessary rules to implement these important restrictions and limits. last week, the board adopted a final rule to ensure that activities prohibited by the volcker rule are divested or terminated in the time period required by the act. we also have been moving forward rapidly in other areas. last fall, we issued a study on the potential effect of the act ’ s credit risk retention requirements on securitization markets, as well as an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the use of credit ratings in the regulations of the federal banking agencies. in addition, in december, the board and the other federal banking agencies requested comment on a proposed rule that would implement the capital floors required by the collins amendment. in december, we also requested comment on proposed rules that would establish standards for debit card interchange fees and implement the act ’ s prohibition on network exclusivity arrangements and routing restrictions. in january, the board, together with the office of the comptroller of the currency, federal deposit insurance corporation, and office of thrift supervision ( ots ), bis central bankers ’ speeches provided the congress a comprehensive report on the agencies ’ progress and plans relating to the transfer of the supervisory authority of the ots for thrifts and thrift holding companies. in addition, as provided by the act, we and the federal reserve banks each established offices to consolidate and build on our existing equal opportunity programs to promote diversity in management, employment, and business activities. we continue to work closely and cooperatively with other agencies to develop joint rules to implement the credit risk retention requirements for securitizations, resolution plans ( or " living wills " ) for large bank holding companies and council - designated nonbank firms, and capital and margin requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants. we are consulting with the securities and exchange commission ( sec ) and the commodity futures trading commission ( cftc ) on a variety of rules to enhance the safety and efficiency of the derivatives markets, including rules that would require most standardized derivatives to be centrally traded and cleared, require the registration and prudential regulation of swap dealers and major swap participants, and improve the transparency and reporting of derivatives transactions. we also are coordinating with the sec and the cftc on the