CFTC PR 6020-11 April 12, 2011 Memorandum of Understanding The CFTC and FTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will facilitate sharing of non-public information on investigations being conducted by the agencies, including investigations into the oil and gasoline markets. Both the FTC and CFTC have authorities to take legal action to stop fraud-based manipulation of the petroleum markets. In addition, the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate exchanges, clearing organizations and intermediaries in the U.S. futures industry. The MOU will further facilitate information sharing

International Swaps and Derivatives Association April 8, 2011 On 5 April 2011, the House of Lords European Union Committee recommended a UK opt-in to the European Commission's proposal to revise the Brussels I Regulation on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. The European Commission's new proposal would repeal and replace the current, imperfect legislation with a more modern Regulation which directly addresses the European market in cross border derivative transactions.

The European Parliament April 5, 2011 On 5 April 2011, the European Parliament published a revised opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposed European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The opinion contains suggested amendments for the regulation which sets out: i) the conditions for authorising Central Counterparties (CCPs) to ensure that there are appropriate central clearing mechanisms in place; and ii) that the reporting of derivatives to trade repositories will enable enhanced analysis of systemic risk. EMIR is expected to be adopted on 7 June 2011 when the European

FIA Comment Letter RIN 3038-AC98 April 7, 2011 The FIA submitted a comment letter to the CFTC on April 7 in response to the agency's notice of proposed rulemaking establishing risk management requirements for derivatives clearing organizations. The FIA said it believes the CFTC has properly identified many of the responsibilities that DCOs and clearing members must undertake in order to manage the risks of clearing swaps but urged the CFTC to rely on guidance rather than prescriptive rules. The FIA also asked the CFTC to revise a number of specific requirements in the proposed rules. The FIA

CFTC Joint SEC-CFTC Study CFTC PR 6017-11 April 8, 2011 Joint Study on the Feasibility of Mandating Algorithmic Descriptions for Derivatives April 8, 2011 The CFTC and SEC have delivered to Congress a joint staff study on "the feasibility of requiring the derivatives industry to adopt standardized computer-readable algorithmic descriptions that may be used to describe complex and standardized financial derivatives" The joint study concludes that current technology is capable of representing derivatives using a common set of computer-readable descriptions. These descriptions are precise enough