A critical legal challenge to the Gensler-era CFTC was decided Tuesday, in a resounding victory for the agency. Judge Paul Friedman rejected arguments by three trade bodies[1] that the CFTC had overstepped its authority in extending the extra-territorial reach of its swaps rules. His 92 page opinion is decisive- The challengers “merely seek to delay […]

The CFTC has issued three no action letters in as many days, variously relating to: SEF documentation of uncleared swap confirmations, customer account templates for the CME and Indian Rupee clearing by the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. Each is only of specific import, a brief summary follows: SEF Documentation of Uncleared Swap Confirmations: Letter […]

On 6 August 2014, 11 US banks received a reminder by their regulators that the rights on early termination in their ISDA Master Agreements will require material changes in order to provide credibility for their living wills. This comment likely applies to every institution which is required to produce a living will under the Dodd-Frank […]

Tomorrow, 30 July 2014, marks the expiry of CFTC No-Action Letter 13-41[1]. The letter granted a one year extension, with modification, to Letter 12-46 permitting Part 20 reporting parties to mask identifying information for trades affected by 3rd country privacy laws. Penalties for privacy infringement vary by country ranging from a 500,000 yuan in the […]

The always-quotable CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia took a leaf from Hippocrates in a recent speech subtitled “Regulators must first do no harm”. His prescriptions for the contagions of market fragmentation, fractured liquidity and parasitical arbitrage, all consequent upon regulatory divergence, are as follows: The Cure Should Not Be Worse than the Disease: Fixing Unworkable Rules. […]

The CFTC yesterday gave notice of an extension to no-action letter 13-34, exempting SDs and MSPs from their obligation to report cleared valuation data. The latest link in the no-action daisy chain, Letter 14-90, adds a full year to the relief which now expires on 30 June 2015. The letter applies to all SD/MSP reporting […]

The House of Congress has passed the bill to reauthorise CFTC appropriations to 2018. H.R. 4413, the Consumer Protection and End User Relief Act, aims to substantially limit the Agency’s powers and orders the CFTC to clarify the cross-border regulatory fog. Passed 265-144 along partisan lines, the bill has been handed to the Senate, where […]

Dodd-Frank Section 619 “Prohibitions on proprietary trading and certain relationships with hedge funds and private equity funds”, more snappily known as the “Volcker Rule”, has recently undergone some incremental developments. The FRB, OCC, FDIC, SEC and CFTC jointly issued a FAQs document addressing the following matters: The reporting dates and date rules for trading metrics. […]

The FT reports that the EU is threatening to effectively derail the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, unless the US includes coordination of financial regulation as part of the package. Leaked documents confirm that the EU intends to up the ante by excluding discussion on all financial services, a move that would significantly […]