Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Mark Highman is a securities and derivatives regulation lawyer based in New York. He represents broker-dealers, investment advisers, commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisers on their regulatory requirements under US federal securities laws and the Commodity Exchange Act.
Mark advises regulated firms on the SEC, CFTC, FINRA, FinCEN and NFA Rules, including the requirements applicable to employees, communications, customers, anti-money laundering, privacy, research, recordkeeping, trading, and supervision.
Recent Articles & Comments
The MOU and Harmonization Initiative provide a unique opportunity for market participants to engage with the SEC and CFTC on the creation of a harmonized regulatory framework across securities and derivatives markets. Firms should consider conducting a comprehensive inventory of overlapping SEC and CFTC regulations that impede their business, and offer solutions to eliminate unnecessary duplication while preserving investor protection and market integrity. All types of firms should consider…
CFTC Letter 25-49 is an important adjunct to the CFTC rulemaking on ITBC Swaps, providing CFTC-registered swap dealers with the same relief from business conduct and documentation requirements with respect to ITBC Swaps conducted on specified U.K. trading platforms as apply to ITBC Swaps conducted on Exempt SEFs in the European Union, Singapore and Japan.
This is a welcome "de-cluttering" rulemaking that rationalizes and codifies prior CFTC no-action letters granting CFTC-registered swap dealers relief from certain external business conduct standards and swap trading relationship documentation requirements (the "Business Conduct and Documentation Requirements"). The CFTC's adopting release provides a good overview of the multiple no-action letters issued by the CFTC since enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act to address challenges encountered by…
This letter is of particular relevance to private commodity pools offered to "qualified purchasers" in reliance on the exclusion from registration as an investment company under Section 3(c)(7) of the Investment Company Act. Unlike the de minimis exemption in CFTC Rule 4.13(a)(3), the relief for QEP Pools does not impose any limits on the volume of derivatives trading and is thus available to private funds pursuing speculative commodity derivatives trading strategies.
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