FIA EVENTS » 10/4 - 10/5 5th Annual FIA and OIC New York Equity Options Conference » 10/5 FIA Treasury & Rates Forum » 10/5 FIA Energy Forum » 10/12 - 10/14 6th Annual FIA Asia Derivatives Conference » 11/2 - 11/4 26th Annual Futures & Options Expo DIVISION EVENTS » 9/27 6th Annual FIA Chicago Golf Outing View FI Calendar NEW! FIA’s Forum on the Impact of Financial Reform on Derivatives Market Participants The FIA hosted a financial reform forum on Aug. 9 in New York with officials speaking from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission on the impact that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will have on the derivatives industry. The forum included several panels on a range of topics including a discussion on upcoming CFTC/SEC rulemakings, the timeline for implementing the legislation, new roles and requirements for intermediaries and traders, execution systems, clearinghouses and new capital requirements. Click Here to Access Audio and Video of This Event FIA Chicago Presents: CME OTC Account Class Briefing Webinar Wednesday August 11, 2010 Learn more about new rules, set to go into effect this fall, which will require FCMs to treat OTC derivatives as a separate “sequestered” account class. This session will also cover the operational impact. View the Recorded Webinar Here View the PDF Presentation Here FIA Statement on Passage of Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act WASHINGTON, D.C.—July 16, 2010—The Futures Industry Association today released the following statement by FIA President John Damgard following the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. “The FIA congratulates Congress and the President on this historic achievement. We especially thank Chairman Dodd and Chairman Frank for their leadership in this effort and the members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and Chairman Peterson and Chairman Lincoln for all their work on the derivatives title of the legislation. In the months ahead we will work with all the regulators by providing the information they need to ensure that our markets remain the safest and most competitive in the world. As an industry, we have many challenges ahead in educating users and transforming our infrastructures. We will draw on our expertise in the exchange traded and cleared markets to help move derivatives markets to the next stage.” FIA and FIA PTG Support CFTC Co-Location Proposal (July 12, 2010) Responding to a request for comment from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regarding a proposed rule on co-location and proximity hosting services, the Futures Industry Association filed a comment letter on July 12 expressing its support for the CFTC’s efforts to promote transparency and fair access to the futures markets. The FIA comment letter also reflects the views of the FIA Principal Traders Group, a forum for firms trading their own capital to identify and discuss issues confronting the principal trading community. One of the group’s stated goals is to promote cost-effective, equal and transparent access to U.S. and non-U.S. markets. The FIA expressed support for the CFTC’s proposed requirement that exchanges provide equal access to co-location facilities and allow third parties to provide proximity services. The FIA asked the CFTC to consider third party sites as well as an exchange’s own co-location facility as meeting access requirements rather than the exchange facility alone. The FIA also supported requiring exchanges to publish latency data for direct connections from their co-location facilities and other access points to an exchange matching engine, but recommended against applying a similar requirement to other types of connections between market participants and third party providers of access. The latency data should cover average, shortest and longest latency and should be reported quarterly, the FIA said. The association also encouraged exchanges to ensure equality of access within data centers by establishing the same distance from rack space to matching engine throughout the data center. Click here for the letter Futures Industry Coalition Defends CFTC’s Exclusive Jurisdiction On July 8, the Futures Industry Association, National Futures Association, Managed Funds Association and CME Group joined forces to file an amicus curiae brief in support of the exclusive regulatory jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over futures trading. In the case of Brian Hunter v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Ferc alleges that Hunter’s natural gas futures trading caused a manipulation of the futures price that affected natural gas transactions within Ferc’s regulatory purview. The group’s brief argues that Congress enacted the exclusive jurisdiction provision of the Commodity Exchange Act to prevent federal and state agencies other than the CFTC from regulating futures trading in any way, a position that all federal courts have followed for decades. The CFTC itself has intervened in the Hunter appeal to reaffirm its exclusive jurisdiction over Hunter and other futures traders. Separately, the CFTC has charged Hunter with attempted price manipulation for this futures trading activity. Click here for the brief Congress Publishes Official Text of Conference Report on Financial Reform Legislation The U.S. Congress has published the official text of the conference report on H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The conference report represents the final version of the legislation as agreed to by the House-Senate conference committee on June 24. Click Here for Dodd-Frank Conference Report FIA Statement on Conclusion of House-Senate Conference Committee WASHINGTON, D.C.—June 25, 2010—The Futures Industry Association today released the following statement by FIA President John Damgard following the conclusion of the House-Senate Conference Committee on the financial reform bill. “The FIA congratulates the members of the House and Senate Conference Committee on their historic achievement and thanks the members for the hard work that went into the consideration of the conference report. This was a marathon process and it required tremendous persistence, patience and cooperation. We especially thank Chairman Frank and Chairman Dodd for their leadership in the conference, and the members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and Chairman Peterson and Chairman Lincoln in particular for all their work on the derivatives title of the legislation.” FIA PTG Retains Jim Overdahl as Spokesperson (June 16, 2010) The FIA Principal Traders Group announced today that Jim Overdahl, who has served as chief economist at both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has been retained as the group’s spokesman. He will be responsible for articulating the group’s views on public policy issues and improving public understanding of the role played by principal trading firms in the financial and commodity markets. Click here for the press release FIA, SIFMA, ICI Comment on Joint FinCEN,SEC Guidelines Regarding Beneficial Ownership Information The Futures Industry Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the Investment Company Institute co-signed a June 9 letter to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding guidelines on the information securities and futures firms should obtain to verify beneficial ownership information of their customer relationships. The groups in the letter said they fully support efforts of regulators to provide guidance on anti-money laundering compliance, but they warned the guidelines issued on March 5 do not reflect the current laws that apply to securities and futures firms. “We do not believe that the Bank Manual is an appropriate vehicle to provide guidance to securities and futures firms not subject to examinations under the Bank Manual,” FIA, SIFMA and ICI wrote. The groups requested a meeting with FinCEn, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to begin a dialogue about providing revised guidelines that are tailored to the specific and varied operations of securities and futures firms. Click here for the comment letter   Tuesday, September 07 Bart Chilton: Rein in the cyber cowboys (FT)  138  Speculative Activity in Commodities Is Likely to Continue (WSJ)  112  Regulators to hash out major new finance regulations this month (The Hill blog)  108  Goldman Sachs Said to Shut Principal Strategies Unit (Bloomberg)  102  CFTC retail FX rules fail to curb offshore trading (Risk.net)  98  Slowing of Some Trades Is Urged (WSJ)  93  Swap Reform to Increase Competition, Cut Bank Profit (Bloomberg)  87  ASX derivatives trading surges in August (AAP)  79  Europe Takes a Big Step to Avert Economic Crises (NY Times)  76  CFTC creates electronic mailboxes for comment submissions (Lexology)  71  London fears power shift to Brussels (FT)  65  U.K. Farmers Learn to Play the Field (WSJ)  64  Time to stop rehearsing excuses and move forward (FT)  62  Carbon and gas boom at EEX, power flat (FOi)  61  Call for tighter trading-outage procedures (FT)  58  EU Seeks Consensus on Bank Levy (WSJ)  55  NYSE Euronext Combines With APX for Environmental-Trading Venture (Bloomberg)  54  Push for common approach on bank tax in EU (FT)  52    Friday, September 03 Getco to hire head of NYSE Arca Europe (FT)  227  "Quote stuffing" a focus in flash crash probe (Reuters)  225  CFTC seeks across-the-board public input on rules (Lexology)  213  SEC Probes Possible Role of Canceled Trades in May Crash (Bloomberg)  205  Derivatives reform (FT)  202  CME Group's August average volume up 15 percent (AP)  200  Flash crash probe plays down quote-stuffing (FT)  191  Barclays Didn't See $5 Billion Gain on Bankrupt Lehman Loan, Witness Says (Bloomberg)  176  5 Billion Lehman Discount Would Have Required 'Collusion' -Witness (DowJones)  175  Lobbying Picks Up as Finance Rules Are Written (WSJ)  173  High-frequency trading: Up against a bandsaw (FT)  161  Europe's 4-Regulator Solution (WSJ)  140  Bernanke takes blame for muddled message on Lehman (Reuters)  129  Cotton prices surge to 15-year peak (FT)  125    Thursday, September 02 G.H. Financials gets remote access to Japan (FT)  210  Carbon Trading Lurches Off Course (NY Times)  200  CME considering changes to grains settlement rules (Reuters)  184  A Brave New World in Currencies? (WSJ blog)  163  Newedge backs EU drive for clearing and exchange trading (FOi)  154  More Banks to Settle Derivatives Case (The Street)  152  Deutsche Bank Launches Electronic Currency Options System (WSJ)  150  Brussels set to give way on OTC derivatives (FT)  143  Read More E-clips » E-clips users: Please note that these news stories are drawn from independent sources. The FIA does not verify or endorse any of these articles, and takes no responsibility for their contents. Please contact Will Acworth at the FIA if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this service. (202) 466-5460