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   Thursday, September 09 Intl Securities Exchange Cuts Staff As Market Share Falls (DowJones)  60  Wall Street Firms to Cut 80,000 Jobs in 18 Months, Whitney Says (Bloomberg)  55  Energy firms demand more clarity on Dodd-Frank reforms (Risk.net)  43  CFTC: Comment on commodity ETF operator exemptions (Futures)  42  Competition has hurt, but not crippled, TMX Group (Globe and Mail)  35  Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs fined £17.5m by FSA (BBC)  31  Exchange-traded derivatives volume hits a high in Asia-Pacific (Economic Times)  30  France leads charge on commodities rules reform (FT)  27  Fed Watchful On Move Toward Less-Standardized OTC Derivatives (DowJones)  26  TMX Group calls for a “made-in-Canada” solution for OTC derivatives clearing (Investment Executive)  22  US financial reform law leaves a lot unsaid (Livemint)  22  Toronto sets out position on OTC reform (FT)  21  Emerging markets dump old trading habits (FT)  19  Monte dei Paschi To Clear Rate Swaps On LCH.Clearnet (DowJones)  18  Monte dei Paschi seals swaps deal (FT)  17  Shanghai Futures Exchange Official: No Investigation Into Rubber Futures Trading (DowJones)  17  Goldman now faces large fine in UK (FT)  14  Transaction taxes, liquidity and patience (Reuters)  14    Wednesday, September 08 NYSE Liffe to Start CFTC-Style Reports on Cocoa, Sugar, Coffee Positions (Bloomberg)  153  CFTC discusses derivatives rules with Wall St (FT)  132  APX, NYSE Launching 'Green' Exchange Venture Called Blue (Securities Technology Monitor)  121  NYSE Liffe Takes on Speculators (WSJ)  119  SEC Considers Rules for High-Frequency Traders After Plunge (Bloomberg)  118  Goldman Sachs, BP Met With Derivative Regulators on Dodd-Frank (Bloomberg)  106  European settlement industry beefs up lobbying effort (FT)  104  Swiss Exchange May Enter Derivatives Clearing as Demand Rises (Bloomberg)  97  NYSE to Expand Carbon Trading (WSJ)  96  S.E.C. to Study Rapid-Fire Stock Orders (NY Times)  87  LCH.Clearnet will clear OTC coal swaps (Futures)  85  Barclays’ success comes at a price (FT)  82  European Union To Talk Bank Levy, Financial Transaction Tax (Forbes)  72    Tuesday, September 07 Bart Chilton: Rein in the cyber cowboys (FT)  185  Speculative Activity in Commodities Is Likely to Continue (WSJ)  152  CFTC retail FX rules fail to curb offshore trading (Risk.net)  145  Regulators to hash out major new finance regulations this month (The Hill blog)  145  Goldman Sachs Said to Shut Principal Strategies Unit (Bloomberg)  139  Slowing of Some Trades Is Urged (WSJ)  133  Swap Reform to Increase Competition, Cut Bank Profit (Bloomberg)  125  ASX derivatives trading surges in August (AAP)  116  CFTC creates electronic mailboxes for comment submissions (Lexology)  109  Read More E-clips » E-clips users: Please note that these news stories are drawn from independent sources. 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