By a voice vote late on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate approved President Barack Obama’s nominee for chairman of the CFTC Timothy Massad, the TARP overseer, according to media reports and the websites of U.S. Senators. The Senate also confirmed by voice vote the nominee for the Republican commissioner’s seat J. Christopher Giancarlo. Sharon Yvette Bowen,… Read More >>
The Winners’ Circle for the FTF Awards
Cynthia Meyn, executive vice president for operations at bond fund manager PIMCO, was voted Ops Business Person of the Year as part of the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2014. In addition, entrepreneur Stephen Marsh, founder and CEO of Smarsh, the email and social media compliance provider, was chosen FinTech Person of the Year while… Read More >>
ICAP SEF Serves US, Europe
A dual swap execution facility (SEF) and multilateral trading facility (MTF), ICAP Global Derivatives Ltd. (IGDL) has officially launched and can serve U.S. and European clients. IGDL has gotten temporary swap execution facility (SEF) approval from the CFTC, which regulate it along with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to a prepared statement from… Read More >>
The CFTC’s Case for More Cops
The CFTC has been fairly aggressive in writing and launching new regulations, particularly for the clearing and execution of over-the-counter derivatives — a key reform of the Dodd-Frank Act. Getting the follow-up support from Congress to effectively oversee these reforms has been a major challenge for the regulator. Undaunted, Mark P. Wetjen, the acting chairman… Read More >>
CEO Shuffle at Javelin SEF
Javelin SEF has a new CEO John “Wally” Sullivan following the departure last week of James Cawley, who is also the founder of Javelin Capital Markets, the parent company of the pioneering swap execution facility. Licensed by the CFTC last fall, Javelin SEF is one of the pioneering over-the-counter derivatives execution platforms for interest rate… Read More >>
CFTC Replaces Capitol Hill Director
Mark P. Wetjen, the acting chairman of the CFTC, has announced that John Riley, the legislative affairs director, will “depart the agency in May after a 30-year career in federal service.” At the same time, the CFTC has appointed Ted Serafini to be the acting director of the office of legislative affairs. Serafini, who has… Read More >>
Bigger Volumes Meet Fewer FCMs
Fewer futures commission merchants are handling greater volumes of U.S. customer segregated funds compared to a decade ago, resulting in 75% of these funds being held by 10 major FCMs, reports John P. Needham, president of Needham Consulting, in his presentation for FTF’s DerivOps Chicago conference this week. The segregation of funds stipulates that broker-dealers… Read More >>
CFTC to Revamp SDR Push as Aite Predicts CCP Woes
CFTC Calls for Comments for New SDR Rules The CFTC is taking its first major step in an overhaul of its swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements with a call for public comment. The swaps data gathering is mandated by provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This step follows the… Read More >>
Average 2013 Wall Street Bonus Up 15%; Chilton Leaves CFTC
DiNapoli Report: Average Wall Street Bonus Up 15% in 2013 The average bonus paid to securities industry employees in New York City grew by 15 percent in 2013, to an estimated $164,530, according to a recent report from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. That would make it the largest average bonus since the… Read More >>
CFTC Delays Swap Package Execution as SIX Financial Launches FATCA Service
Bowing to industry concerns, the CFTC has delayed a requirement that swap packages be transacted via swap execution facilities (SEFs), and has clarified that the mandatory SEF-based trading of interest rate swaps and index credit default swaps will begin on Feb. 15. Swap packages were granted a reprieve from the SEF mandate via a no-action… Read More >>
