A group of trade associations came out against imbedding the Unique Transaction Identifier ("UTI") with, or deriving the UTI from, transactional data that is separately reported, among other objections. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc., the Institute of International Finance, The Investment Association, and SIFMA (together, the "Associations") were responding to the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures' ("CPMI") and IOSCO's consultative report, titled "Harmonisation of the Unique Transaction Identifier." The Associations focused on the fundamental business

The SEC named Chyhe Becker the Associate Director in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. Dr. Becker assumes a new position in the division's Office of Litigation Economics, which was created to reflect the significance of data-driven economic and statistical analysis in investigations and litigated cases. The office has almost tripled in size in the past three years, growing to a staff of 26 from nine, and has expanded to five regional offices in addition to the SEC's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

In a paper titled Collateral Damage: Adopting the LSOC Model and Insurance in the U.S. Futures Markets, Zayed University Professor Christian Chamorro-Courtland argues that for the protection of cleared swaps customers, the Legal Segregation and Operationally Commingled (LSOC) model of segregation of margin deposits should replace the futures model in order to eliminate fellow customer risk for futures customers. Professor Chamorro-Courtland asserts that advantages of the LSOC Model would include: Central Counterparties (CCPs) would be prohibited from using the margin of non-defaulting

New SRO rules, rule proposals and NMS plans were announced by the SEC. Click on the links below to view the SEC's notices of exchange rule changes and proposals from September 28 to October 4. Clearance Settlement: ICE EU: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change Relating to CDS End-of-Day Price Discovery Policy (Release No. 34-75983; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-013; September 25, 2015) ICE EU: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change Relating to Clearance of New Natural Gas Futures Contracts (Release No. 34-76069; File No. SR-ICEEU-2015-016; October 2, 2015) FINRA: Notice

In a web post published by the Futures Industry Association, the Principal Traders Group ("FIA-PTG") reviewed the findings of the "Joint Staff Report on the U.S. Treasury Market on October 15, 2014" issued by Treasury and other government agencies on July 13, 2015. In particular, the FIA-PTG discussed the issue of self-trading raised in the Joint Staff Report. The post distinguishes between intentional and unintentional self trades, noting that "intentional wash trades are illegal self-matches that manipulate the markets by giving the impression of legitimate trading interest or activity at a