Former Congressional staffer Hester Peirce has published an article titled, "Regulatory Complicity in Nasdaq's Troubles." The article discusses last week's Nasdaq trading halt and examines how the SEC could approach the resolution of future problems in the securities market. Lofchie Comment: The article makes two important points: first, regulators feel pressured to bring a disciplinary action or make additional rule requirements whenever something profiled publicly goes wrong in the financial markets; second, it is often the case that the rule changes have negative unintended consequences

According to an MFA blog post, 16 member states of the EU have not fully implemented the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive ("AIFMD"). Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were the only EU Member States that had implemented the AIFMD by the July 22 deadline. The post reports that managers say they are still waiting on guidance from their local authorities. However, the European Securities and Markets Authority advised managers that AIFMD-compliant funds can be sold in any state regardless of

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") released an empirical study on changes in the level of volatility in futures markets. The study focused on 15 futures contracts listed on four futures exchanges: CME Group, Eurex, Intercontinental Exchange and NYSE Liffe. The study found that while prices in these 15 markets moved through high and low cycles of volatility and experienced numerous spikes due to macro-economic events, volatility attributable to structural factors did not change in most of these contracts. According to the study, innovations such as algorithmic and high-frequency trading

The CFTC settled charges against Velocity Futures, LLC for failing to comply with the minimum financial requirements for FCMs. According to the CFTC, Velocity failed to meet the minimum adjusted capital requirement because it did not properly account for certain events relating to two arbitration awards issued by the NFA. Velocity agreed to pay a $300,000 civil monetary penalty. See:CFTC Order; CFTC Press Release.

The NFA released a notice to members outlining reporting requirements for the Labor Day holiday. The regulatory filings are as follows: Daily segregated, 30.7 secured, cleared swaps customer collateral and daily forex statements prepared as of August 30, 2013 are required to be submitted by noon on September 3, 2013; Daily segregated statements are not required to be prepared as of September 2, 2013; Daily 30.7 secured, cleared swaps customer collateral and forex statements are required to be prepared as of September 2, 2013 and are required to be submitted by 12:00 noon on September 3, 2013