Newly-inaugurated CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad has crossed off the first item on his long to do list. The Agency today announced the appointment of Aitan Goelman as Director of Enforcement. Mr Goelman has 20 years’ experience civil and criminal, prosecutor and defence; an outspoken character, he is known to be a tenacious and effective litigation […]

The CFTC has extended the no-action relief already granted to non-US SDs in respect of Transaction-Level Requirements under the CEA. The latest relief expires 31 December 2014, a three and a half month extension from the previous expiry . Note that if the covered transaction is a trade between two non-US SDs, portfolio compression and […]

The U.S. Senate has confirmed the appointment of President Obama’s three nominees to the CFTC, restoring the five-member Commission to its full complement. The confirmation of Timothy Massad as Chairman is the more consequential, and potentially more interesting, of the three. Massad is something of an enigma, although previously active in a number of high-profile […]

CFTC Acting Chairman Mark Wetjen yesterday delivered a largely unremarkable speech to a specialised committee of the DC Bar. Continuing the recent shift from faith-based regulation to a more nuanced blend of pragmatism and humility; the speech refers to recent actions having been  “issued in a deliberative and methodical way, and intentionally without haste or […]

The CFTC has announced three actions to remedy a small subset of problems created by its own legislation. “These proposals collectively reflect our continuing efforts to ensure that market regulations accomplish their intended function without creating negative, unintended consequences, in particular for commercial end-users,” said Acting Chairman Wetjen. Bipartisan support for the actions was echoed […]

Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, CFTC acting-Chairman Mark Wetjen used the rare tactic of honesty in his appeal for extra funding in 2015. “The unfortunate reality is that, at current funding levels, the Commission is unable to adequately fulfill the mission given to it by Congress.” The bulk […]

Following entry into force of the final CFTC rules on initial margin segregation on 6 May 2014 (see this blog post for more detail), ISDA has published a “Form of CFTC 23.704 Quarterly Notice” on its website.  The notice is intended to assist market participants in implementing the reporting requirement under regulation 23.704 relating to […]

The CFTC yesterday unveiled its “thoughtful” approach to the thorny problem of how to shoehorn packaged swaps onto SEFs. After much thinking, they have arrived at a crystal-clear phase-in approach. No-Action Letter 14-62 provides the following reliefs from 16th May 2014: expires 1st June 2014. Packages that consist of one leg MAT swap and all […]

On the 9th April the CFTC “clarified” the confusion regarding substituted SEF compliance for MTFs. No-action Letter 14-46 supersedes and extends the 11th February 2014 relief from SEF-registration rules  that were due to take effect on 15 May 2014, affecting EU MTFs and SDs who wish to transact through them. In order to benefit, MTFs […]