MFA submitted a response to ESMA's "Consultation Paper on the Clearing Obligation under EMIR (No. 3)," which relates to the clearing of foreign exchange non-deliverable forwards ("NDFs") under EMIR. MFA expressed concern with the clearing of NDFs because (i) there is a lack of international convergence, (ii) not all market participants have access to the cleared NDF market and (iii) the costs of NDF clearing outweigh the systemic risk benefits. MFA recommended that ESMA should not commence the clearing of NDFs at this time. When NDFs are ready, MFA urged ESMA to phase in NDF clearing by: not

FINRA released a podcast summarizing the latest FINRA notices, compliance resources and news from October 2014. The podcast highlighted recent regulatory notices, including: Notice 14-38, which announces updates to certain FINRA Rules regarding interpretations of the SEC's capital and recordkeeping rules to reflect amendments recently adopted by the SEC; Notice 14-39, which concerns a new filing template made available through the Firm Gateway; Notice 14-40, which reminds firms that it is a violation of FINRA Rule 2010 ("Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade") to add to

The CFTC Division of Market Oversight issued time-limited no-action relief to Southwest Airlines and its counterparties to allow additional time for them to comply with the reporting obligation in CFTC Rule 43.3(a) for transactions in long-dated Brent and WTI crude oil swaps and swaptions contracts. The CFTC granted the relief, provided that (i) the contracts are not subject to the mandatory clearing requirements, (ii) the expiration dates of the contracts are at least two years out, and (iii) the contracts are reported to a swap data repository no later than 15 calendar days after being

The CFTC issued its enforcement results for fiscal year 2014 and reported that the agency obtained a record $3.27 billion in monetary sanctions imposed against companies and individuals. Additionally, the CFTC reported that it filed 67 new enforcement actions. The Division of Enforcement also opened more than 240 new investigations in fiscal year 2014, which was also the year of the first award made under the CFTC's new Whistleblower Program. See: CFTC Press Release. Related news: CFTC Issues First Whistleblower Award (May 20, 2014).

CME Group issued a disciplinary action regarding position-limit violations. CME Group found that, on August 9, 2011, Credit Suisse Asset Management ("CS") exceeded the spot-month position limit of 6,500 by carrying 6,653 contracts, and that, on August 10, 2011, CS exceeded its position-limit amount again by carrying 7,265 contracts. CME Group ordered CS to pay a fine of $22,500 and a disgorgement of $98,623. S ee: CBOT 11-8472-BC.