   | FIA Opposes CFTC Position Limit Proposal WASHINGTON, D.C.—March 18, 2010—The Futures Industry Association today filed a major comment letter in opposition to the adoption by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of its proposed speculative position limits on energy commodities. “The FIA strongly supports the CFTC’s ongoing efforts to prevent price manipulation and to conduct effective market surveillance to protect price discovery,” said FIA President John Damgard. “Based on our analysis, the proposed rules would harm these public interests and should not be adopted.”  Click Here for a Summary of the FIA Comment Letter
Click Here for the Full Text of the FIA Comment Letter
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| Tug of War on Derivatives ReformFT Trading Room, March 14, 2010 Click Here to Access a Video Report from the FIA’s International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, Fla. |
| FIA Comments on SEC/CFTC Harmonization Report In response to a Congressional request, the FIA has drafted a four-page letter summarizing its views on the regulatory harmonization report issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission in October 2009. The letter was submitted to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, on Feb. 12, 2010. The letter identified four areas of regulatory harmonization that the FIA views as “top priorities.” These four areas are: portfolio margining, product approvals, CFTC oversight of exchange rules, and insider trading. The FIA letter also identified several SEC/CFTC recommendations that it does not support and offered several suggestions for potential areas of harmonization that were not included in the report. Click Here for the PDF |
The Futures Industry Association submitted a comment letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Jan. 15, 2010 responding to a CFTC proposal that would authorize a bankruptcy trustee to operate a commodity brokerage business for a limited period of time. The FIA agreed that the proposed authorization would be appropriate when dealing with insolvent firms, as in the case of Lehman Brothers Inc. But the FIA said it could not support the proposal in its present form for three main reasons. First, the FIA urged the CFTC to address this issue in the context of a “comprehensive review” of the bankruptcy code and the CFTC’s rules in this area. Second, the FIA urged the CFTC to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission on “uniform procedures” to guide a trustee of an insolvent firm that is registered as both a broker-dealer and a futures commission merchant. Third, the FIA recommended that the proposal should provide more detailed guidance to a trustee and CFTC staff. Click Here for the PDF |
Jan. 14, 2010 The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today is holding a public meeting to discuss whether to release a proposed rule to set position limits in the energy futures and options markets. The proposed rule, which will be published in the Federal Register after the meeting, will apply to contracts based on four commodities: light, sweet crude oil; Henry Hub natural gas; New York Harbor No. 2 heating oil; and New York Harbor gasoline blendstock. The proposed rule, if finalized in its present form, would establish a framework for a new set of limits on speculative positions for all contract months combined, single month, and spot month. The proposal also would provide exemptions for bona fide hedging transactions and a risk management exemption for swap dealers. The comment period on the proposed rule will be 90 days. For more information on the CFTC position limit proposal and current position limit policy, including links to policy documents released at today’s public meeting, please visit the position limit page on the FIA website at http://www.futuresindustry.org/position-limits-.asp |
The letter noted that broker-dealers are only one of many different types of financial institutions that are permitted to act as counterparties to retail customers with respect to over-the-counter retail forex transactions. These include futures commission merchants, forex dealers, banks and insurance companies. By proposing to fix a leverage limitation that is significantly lower than market convention, the proposed rule effectively would prohibit dually registered entities from competing in this line of business, the letter argued. “We respectfully submit that such a result is both self-defeating and unsound as a matter of regulatory policy,” the letter said. Instead the SEC and FINRA should pursue a “coordinated regulatory approach” with the other regulatory agencies with authority in this area, namely the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. “Such a coordinated regulatory approach would also provide a more level playing field, thereby assuring that no category of registrant…would have a competitive advantage,” the letter said. Click Here for the Comment Letter |
| FIA, SIFMA Comment on FINCEN Proposals on Information Sharing Procedures The Futures Industry Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association co-signed a Dec. 16 letter to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The two associations commented jointly on proposals regarding the expansion of special information sharing procedures that are intended to deter money laundering and terrorist activity. While FIA and SIFMA support efforts to combat terrorism and money laundering, they cautioned that the proposals could go beyond the intent of current law. Click Here for the Comment Letter (1.5 MB) |
| FIA Supports KCBT Petition to Clear Wheat SwapsThe Futures Industry Association filed a comment letter on Dec. 14 supporting a petition by the Kansas City Board of Trade related to the clearing of wheat calendar swaps that are traded over-the-counter. The KCBT has asked the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for permission to hold the positions and the associated customer margin in segregated accounts. In supporting this request, the FIA noted that the CFTC had approved similar requests from ICE Clear U.S. and CME Group. The FIA also reiterated prior comments that the CFTC should develop “objective standards” for determining what OTC cleared-only products may be included in segregation. Click Here for PDF |
| | | | 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 |
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