Nine Senate Democrats sent a letter to the White House urging the President to consider a nominee for CFTC Commissioner "who has the expertise, independence, and track record necessary to carry forward strong implementation of the derivatives reforms" of Dodd-Frank. President Obama will have to nominate a new Commissioner to replace Bart Chilton, who announced that he will be stepping down on the same day that Timothy Massad was named to succeed current Chairman Gary Gensler. According to the letter, the Senators are "deeply concerned" that some in the industry will view Gensler and Chilton's

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler spoke at the 2013 Annual Glauber Lecture at Harvard University, reiterating themes he has covered in past speeches regarding swaps market reform. Chairman Gensler again described the major components of swaps market reform, including: transparency; clearing; swap dealer oversight; international coordination; and benchmark interest rates. He closed by stating that the CFTC is not sized to the task of overseeing the markets, calling for additions to the CFTC staff and budget. Lofchie Comment: For readers who want to take a fuller look at the Chairman's speech, I note

The CFTC approved by a seriatim vote of 5-0 a Final Order that exempts certain non-financial energy derivative transactions between and among government-owned electric utilities and cooperatively owned electric utilities from most of the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The entities eligible for the relief are charged with the unique public service mission of providing their customers with reliable, affordable electric energy service. Dodd-Frank directed the CFTC to provide such an exemption for certain transactions between certain electric utilities if it is in the public

The CFTC has issued an order granting a request made by Ice Clear Credit LLC ("ICC"), a CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization ("DCO"), pursuant to Section 4d(f) of the Commodity Exchange Act that is also registered with the SEC. The order sets forth terms and conditions under which ICC and its clearing members which are dually registered as futures commission merchants with the CFTC, and as broker-dealers with the SEC, may (1) hold credit default swaps ("CDS") and security-based CDS in a cleared swaps customer account subject to Section 4d(f) of the CEA; and (2) portfolio margin

NOTE: THIS NEWS ITEM WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE CABINET ON DECEMBER 17, ALBEIT WITHOUT THE FINAL RULE ATTACHED AS IT WAS NOT YET AVAILABLE. THE DESCRIPTION AND COMMENTS BELOW ARE FROM THE ORIGINAL NEWS ITEM, BUT WE HAVE ALSO ATTACHED THE FINAL RELEASE. IN ADDITION TO THE DISCUSSION BELOW, WE HAD ALSO PUBLISHED A BRIEF CAUTION WARNING FIRMS OF THE SOME OF THE STATE LAW REQUIREMENTS ON TAPING OF PHONE CONVERSATIONS, TO WHICH WE LINK HERE. The CFTC announced that it has approved a final rule to expand the CFTC's recordkeeping requirements. The announced rule change will amend CFTC Rules 1.35(a)