On May 24, 2012, NFA and CME issued a joint bulletin which outlined that a daily segregated, secured 30.7 and sequestered statement is required to be prepared for any day for which the markets are open which are relevant to that particular statement (customer origin). This is a reminder that for days that are U.S. Federal holidays and foreign markets are open for trading, daily secured 30.7 and sequestered statements, as applicable, are required. This means for December 25, 2012, daily secured and sequestered statements, as applicable, are required to be submitted by 12:00 noon on Wednesday

The CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") issued a no-action letter that provides relief for certain U.S. banks that are wholly owned by non-U.S. banks that are themself CFTC-registered swap dealers. The no-action letter allows a U.S. bank that is wholly owned by such a foreign entity to ignore the swap dealing activities of its foreign affiliates, or the U.S. branches of such affiliates, when determining whether such U.S. bank satisfies the de minimis exception to the swap dealer definition and registration requirements. Conditions: The letter is subject to VERY

The SEC issued an order granting conditional exemptive relief from compliance with certain provisions of the Exchange Act in connection with a program to commingle and portfolio margin customer positions in cleared credit default swaps, which include both "swaps" and "security-based swaps," in a segregated account. The order is necessary due to the two-track regime in the United States for the treatment of derivatives based on securities. (See related story: House Democrats Frank and Capuano Push for SEC-CFTC Merger Bill (with Lofchie Comment).) "Security-based swaps," which are also

The attached study, conducted by the Staff of the SEC, examines the Exchange Act Section 15E(w) ("Registration of nationally recognized statistical rating organizations"), the credit ratings system and potential alternatives to that system. The study also discusses existing Exchange Act Rule 17g-5 ("Conflicts of interest"), which is intended to mitigate the issuer-pay conflict with respect to structured finance products. The report does not make any definitive recommendations, but it does provide an easy-to-read description of the way that ratings are assigned, potential conflicts of interest

The NFA Board of Directors announced that it has approved two measures which will further enhance customer protection safeguards. The first measure will enable NFA to make better use of technology in order to better monitor FCM segregation compliance. Secondly, NFA's Board approved rule amendments to increase the capital requirement, for FCMs acting as counterparties in off-exchange FX transactions with eligible contract participants ("ECP"), to $20 million in adjusted net capital. Click here to view notice in full (links externally to NFA website).See also related news story: NFA Proposed