Commissioner Chilton commended the CFTC, saying " we’ve done way more than other financial regulators." Lofchie Comment: Commissioner Chilton may be right that the CFTC has done way more than other financial regulators. However, financial regulators are better judged on the quality of their work than quantity. According to Commissioner Chilton, the CFTC may "leave a thread hanging loose." The CFTC would have done better by the country in issuing a definitive proposal for public comment; had it done so, it would have received comments going beyond a loose thread. See: Commissioner Chilton's

CFTC Commissioner Scott D. O'Malia delivered a speech to fellow CFTC Commissioners and international regulators thanking them for their work in modifying the Cross-Border Guidance and Exemptive Order. In his remarks, Commissioner O'Malia advocated his preference for engaging international regulators before the release of the Proposed Guidance instead of imposing statutorily weak guidance in haste. In addition, Commissioner O'Malia supported a 75-day comment period on the Exemptive Order in order to market participants to comply with the CFTC's last-minute guidance. See: Commissioner O'Malia's

Commissioner Wetjen explained how he was persuaded to support the CFTC's Cross-Border Guidance and Exemptive Order. As to the timing, Commissioner Wetjen said (i) on the one hand, the CFTC "was not in a good position to delay these [cross-border] policy judgments any longer and (ii) on the other hand, "it could turn out that these compliance dates are too aggressive with respect to certain requirements," and thus the CFTC should be prepared to issue delays. Lofchie Comment: On the issue of timing, the new requirements are unreasonable. Thus, we re-experience a now familiar cycle of the CFTC

The CFTC approved on Friday its "final guidance" on cross-border issues, as well as a related exemptive order. The summary below provides some brief descriptions of the guidance and order. The final guidance is expected to contain (i) an interpretation of the CFTC's jurisdiction under Dodd-Frank (which the CFTC asserts is very, very expansive); (ii) a revised definition of "U.S. person," including an explanation of how the definition applies to (a) offshore funds managed by a U.S. adviser (generally the fund is regarded as a "U.S. person" if either the fund is majority-owned or if the

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) issued a correction to CFTC No-Action Letter 13-45. The letter provides relief from certain designated risk mitigation requirements to registered swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs) organized or established in the U.S. or EU. The correction clarifies that relief is available with respect to all transactions described in the letter that are subject to Section 4s ("Registration and Regulation of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants") of the CEA and EMIR. The CFTC issued a corrected letter, which bears the