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Thank you, Jennifer [Smith of the International Legal Foundation] for your kind words.  On behalf of the United States, it is a privilege to be here with all of you today at this historic international convening on criminal legal aid.  I want to thank Minister [of Justice and Correctional Services Michael] Masutha, Judge President Mlambo, the Government of the Republic of South Africa, Legal Aid South Africa, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Legal Foundation, for coordinating this important gathering so that we may, together, explore how to strengthen and improve access to criminal legal aid around the world.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has ordered the national securities exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to act jointly to develop and file with the Commission a national market system plan to implement a targeted 12 month pilot program that will widen minimum quoting and trading increments (tick sizes) for certain small capitalization stocks. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today obtained an emergency court order against a Chicago suburb and its comptroller to stop a fraudulent bond offering that the city has been marketing to potential investors.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday said that the Justice Department will continue to investigate financial institutions that knowingly facilitate consumer scams, or that willfully look the other way in processing such fraudulent transactions. He acknowledged that multiple investigations were ongoing in this area, and said he expected several of those cases to be resolved in the coming months.

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today announced a settlement to resolve allegations that GE Capital Retail Bank,  known as of this month as Synchrony Bank, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of discrimination by excluding Hispanic borrowers from two of its credit card debt-repayment programs.