ICI has filed a reply brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in connection with its appeal of a federal district court's decision rejecting ICI's challenge to CFTC amendments to Rule 4.5 (which, among other things, provides certain exclusions from the definition of "commodity pool" and "commodity pool operator"). The CFTC amendments challenged by ICI had reinstated a trading threshold and marketing restriction for registered investment companies ("RICs") claiming an exclusion from the definition of "CPO" under Rule 4.5. (The CFTC had previously rescinded the

The GAO released a report on the potential effects of the political intelligence disclosure requirements on communications between the government, the media and political intelligence firms. Political intelligence is defined in the STOCK Act as information that is "derived by a person from direct communication with an executive branch employee, a Member of Congress, or an employee of Congress; and provided in exchange for financial compensation to a client who intends, and who is known to intend, to use the information to inform investment decisions." The purpose of the report was to describe

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve ("FRB") is adopting a final rule to permit banking organizations under its supervision to engage in off-exchange transactions in foreign currency with retail customers. The rule establishes requirements for risk disclosures to customers, recordkeeping, business conduct, and documentation for retail foreign exchange transactions. Regulated institutions engaging in such transactions will be required to notify the Federal Reserve and to be well capitalized, and will be required to collect margin for retail foreign exchange transactions. The following

British Virgin Islands Premier Dr. D. Orlando Smith announced that, after careful analysis, the government of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") has decided to pursue finalization of a Model 1B (Non-Reciprocal) Intergovernmental Agreement with the United States with respect to FATCA. In a speech made in the House of Assembly on April 4, Dr. Smith indicated that a similar agreement was being negotiated with the United Kingdom. "We have been in active discussions with the United States Treasury on this matter for some time now and will continue to move ahead to bring this matter to resolution as

Industry representatives met on February 19th to discuss with Gary Gensler, Jacqueline Mesa, and Steven Adamske issues regarding (i) segregation and bankruptcy, and (ii) cross-border. The following organizations were represented. Nomura, RBC, Deutsche Bank, Natisis Commodity Markets, Citigroup, BP, Newedge, Goldman Sachs, ICAP, ICE Futures Europe, CME Europe, Nasdaq OMX, LME, LCH Clearnet, UBS, Jefferies, BNP Paribas, Mizuho Securities USA, FOA, and the U.S. Embassy Click here to view CFTC Staff and all visitors and organizations present (links externally to CFTC website).