Blanche Lincoln, the former Democratic Senator from Arkansas who was one of the leading proponents of Dodd-Frank, published an opinion piece in Forbes. The article discussed the difference between Dodd-Frank's intent and the effect of its execution on the OTC derivatives market. Former Senator Lincoln asserted that manufacturers and other businesses that use derivatives to hedge normal risk are "still up in the air" about whether they will have to set aside millions of dollars to comply with proposed margin requirements under Dodd-Frank. The current rules leave end users uncertain about the

At the Stanford Directors College, SEC Chair Mary Jo White delivered a speech about director responsibilities and the SEC's whistleblower program. Chair White explained that directors play a "crucially important" role in overseeing a company by preventing, detecting and stopping violations of federal securities laws. She emphasized that directors must set the standard for good corporate governance and rigorous compliance in order to create a strong corporate culture throughout an organization, noting that, often, deficient corporate culture is the cause of the "most egregious" securities law

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") released its' sixth report in a series covering the specific areas of the European Securities and Markets Authority's ("ESMA") consultation process for the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MiFID II") and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation ("MiFIR"). The report, titled "Defining High Frequency Trading," provides an overview of key interpretations relating to high-frequency and algorithmic trading.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (the "Court") requested supplemental briefs from SIFMA, ISDA, the Institution of International Bankers ("Associations") and the CFTC regarding (i) shareholder standing and (ii) interpretive rules in the lawsuit against the CFTC's Cross-Border Guidance. Specifically, the Court and newly assigned Judge Paul Friedman requested that the Associations and the CFTC submit no more than 12 pages in length addressing: whether the "shareholder standing" rule in the Cross-Border Guidance, which states that "[n]o shareholder – not even a sole shareholder

The National Futures Association ("NFA") announced that its Board approved and submitted to the CFTC for review a ban on the use of credit cards to fund retail forex and futures accounts. The prohibition, which is reflected in the proposed adoption of an Interpretive Notice to NFA Compliance Rules 2-4 and 2-36 ("Prohibition on the Use of Certain Electronic Funding Mechanisms"), is a result of a study by the NFA of forex dealer members' business practices. In the study, the NFA examined over 15,000 retail forex accounts and found that a number of these accounts were funded by small retail