The House of Congress has passed legislation to reauthorise the CFTC for another five years; the Commodity End-User Relief Act (H.R. 2289) passed with a healthy majority 246-171. As with all things Dodd-Frank, the bill is already complex, controversial and may prove to be consequential. The bill’s policy statement is  blunt and uncompromising  in its […]

ISDA has requested feedback regarding whether to update its General Disclosure Statement for Transactions. The 43 page General Disclosure forms the main body of a market-standard documentation suite intended to assist with risk disclosure requirements mandated by the CFTC’s External Business Conduct Rules (Rules 23.431, 23.450(g) and 23.605(e)). It is appended by a series of […]

In his keynote address before the Institute of International Bankers, CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad yesterday revisited some familiar themes. Under his leadership, the “new” CFTC cannot be accused of a lack of consistency. It is nevertheless a useful recap of the CFTC’s priorities as they begin the task of “fine-tuning” the discordant Dodd-Frank orchestra. A […]

The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 (the “Cromnibus” Bill) was signed by President Obama yesterday, narrowly avoiding another Government shutdown. The 1,600 page final text did not include a wide range of mooted financial reforms and exemptions. However, it does amend Section 716 of Dodd-Frank, variously known as the “push-out” or “Lincoln” […]

J. Christopher Giancarlo has made his views of the Agency’s previous work very clear- he hates it in detail, spitting his dummy so far out that it may well be irretrievable. The Republican CFTC Commissioner, speaking from his ex-practitioner’s podium, has issued a nine page broadside against the regulator’s implementation of Dodd-Frank’s essentially benign intentions. […]

An interesting snippet in today’s Risk magazine provides a further clue to the rapidly-evolving culture at the CFTC. Ananda Radhakrishnan, the Agency’s Director of the Division of Clearing and Risk, told a conference in London yesterday, “The first response cannot be: ‘CFTC, you have to provide an exemption.’ I say: why? I’m tired of providing […]

Like the dehydrated Ancient Mariner adrift in the ocean, regulators are surrounded by data, but are unable to use it. Mandatory trade reporting under Dodd-Frank and EMIR has been painful, expensive and problematic. Even in the context of lacklustre LEI uptake, the EMIR February 2014 reporting explosion saw trade repositories overwhelmed. Regulators recognise that overall […]

Mandatory trading of SEF’s begins today- 18th February 2014. The 30-day countdown from Javelin’s MAT certification expired on the 15th February; practical start was delayed by the weekend and Monday’s President’s Day. From today, USD and EUR T+2 benchmark IR swaps with the following liquid tenors: 2 year, 3 year, 5 year, 7 year, 10 […]

“Our dealings with the CFTC have been good over the last few weeks, better than before,” said an unnamed European official, commenting on a number of meetings between the EU and the CFTC. While referring to concerns over SEF-driven market fragmentation and extra-territorial fiat by footnote (513), the remarks are the latest indication that the […]