The National Futures Association ("NFA") announced that it will hold a webinar on October 3 to help CTAs understand their new quarterly reporting requirements under NFA Compliance Rule 2-46 and CFTC Rule 4.27 ("Additional Reporting by Advisors of Certain Large Commodity Pools"). During the 60-minute webinar, NFA staff will discuss the new rules and provide a walk-through of the filing process for CTAs. The first quarterly Form PR filing under NFA Compliance Rule 2-46 will be due November 14. See: Webinar Announcement and Registration Information. See also: New Quarterly Filing Requirements for

Saying that it was acting in response to the CFTC's focus on the liquidity of resources available to central counterparties, ICE Clear U.S. ("ICUS") announced it would be increasing the amount of the Clearing Member contributions for the Guaranty Fund that must be kept in cash. Effective December 31, all Clearing Members will be required to maintain 50% of their Guaranty Fund requirements in cash. ICUS Rules and Risk Policies Bylaw 5.4(c) currently requires Clearing Members to maintain the first $50,000 of a Guaranty Fund deposit in cash, and states that the balance may be met with cash, U.S

FINRA filed a proposed rule change to adopt an interpretation to clarify the classification and reporting of certain securities to FINRA. The proposed rule change aims to address the appropriate classification of "hybrid" securities for trade reporting purposes. According to FINRA, the hybrid securities have both debt and equity-like features, making their classification unclear. FINRA proposes an interpretation regarding the classification and reporting of the following two categories of hybrid securities: Depositary shares, which FINRA proposes to treat as OTC Equity Securities, as long as

FINRA filed with the SEC a proposed rule change amending FINRA Rule 7730(c)(1)(A)(i) to extend the pilot program and accompanying waiver for the Professional Real-Time Data Display Fee of $60 until November 7, 2014. The pilot program provides a limited waiver of the fee to access Real-Time Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine ("TRACE") transaction data in connection with certain free trials of data products. See: Text of the Proposed Rule Change. See also: FINRA Files Proposed Rule Change to Extend a TRACE Pilot Program (August 26, 2013).

The CFTC issued a letter certifying the CES China 120 Index Futures contract and the HSI Volatility Index Futures contract submitted by Hong Kong Futures Exchange Limited ("HKFE"). In the letter, the CFTC confirmed that the two contracts meet the requirements set forth in Section 2(a)(1)(C)(ii) ("Designation of Boards of Trade as Contract Markets") of the Commodity Exchange Act, and may be offered to U.S. persons. The two contracts were submitted to the CFTC in August 2013. See: CFTC Certification Letter; CFTC Press Release.