As the United Kingdom faces the March 29 deadline for Brexit, the CFTC and the Bank of England along with the Prudential Regulation Authority (BoE), and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are providing clarification on the regulatory framework governing derivatives processing and clearing between the U.K. and U.S. if and when the UK completes its… Read More >>
Social Media Played Role in Alleged FX Scam
The CFTC is taking legal action via the federal court system against an individual allegedly running a foreign exchange (FX) trading scam that exploited social media outlets to lure more than 140 fraud victims. Citing a misappropriation of customer funds and many regulatory violations, the regulator has entered a preliminary injunction via the U.S. District… Read More >>
CFTC Kept Watch During the Shutdown
One of the unknowns of the 35-day, partial federal government shutdown that ended on January 25 is what happens when the regulators aren’t looking. For the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), it “continued to perform essential market-critical functions throughout the shutdown,” says Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo in a statement issued on Jan. 28 when… Read More >>
Northern Trust to Support Abu Dhabi Firm’s Funds
Firm Taps Northern Trust for UCITS Support An investment management firm based in Abu Dhabi, AD Global Investors, will be using the asset servicing and trading solutions from Northern Trust to provide “an extensive range of to support its four new UCITS funds,” officials say. This is the second time that the firm will be… Read More >>
New IM Burdens Spur Vendors Into Action
New rules for posting initial margin (IM) for bilateral over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives instruments are looming for buy-side firms as vendors, service providers, consultants and others are ramping up their offerings in anticipation of expensive and painful compliance burdens to come. The tougher IM requirements stem from the G20-sanctioned mandates of the Basel Committee on Banking… Read More >>
SEC, CFTC Brace for Extended Government Shutdown
As the U.S. gets back to work after the holidays, SEC and CFTC officials are preparing for an ongoing and widening shutdown of the federal government that may affect the law enforcement and litigation efforts of the regulators. When the shutdown began on Dec. 22, initially nine federal departments and agencies were impacted by the… Read More >>
CFTC Explains Smart Contracts
Through its LabCFTC extension for FinTech innovation, the CFTC has issued a primer “intended to be an educational tool” to explain what a “smart contract” actually is (in case you’re not certain), and to point out some of its shortcomings. “Fundamentally, a ‘smart contract’ is a set of coded computer functions,” according to the primer…. Read More >>
CFTC Exempts Key MTFs From SEF Status
U.K. MTFs Can Operate as Exempt SEFs The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an amended order that will allow an additional four multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) authorized within the European Union to be exempted from the requirement to register with the CFTC as swap execution facilities (SEFs). The four additional United Kingdom-based… Read More >>
Hedge Fund Hit With $1M+ in Penalties
A New York federal court has ordered Algointeractive Inc. a hedge fund, and its two co-founders to pay more than $1 million in civil monetary penalties and restitution to resolve an enforcement action brought in April 2018 by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), charging them with fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation of funds, among… Read More >>
CFTC Tightens Uncleared Swap Margin Requirements
Just in time for the winter holidays, the CFTC approved a final rule to tighten its uncleared swap margin requirements, known as the CFTC Margin Rule, and the changes made an appearance in the Federal Register, Vol. 83, no. 227, Monday, Nov. 26, 2018. Essentially, the changes will take effect by the end of this… Read More >>
