On February 17, the European Commission (the Commission) published two Delegated Regulations amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) Margin Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and the Clearing Obligation RTS (the Delegated Regulations).
The key amendments proposed by the Commission in the Margin RTS include:
Continue Reading European Commission Publishes Delegated Regulations Under EMIR on Risk Mitigation and Clearing Obligation
On June 25, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission held an open meeting where it approved two final rules, advanced two proposed rules and withdrew a previously proposed rule and supplemental proposal.
Continue Reading CFTC Approves Two Final Rules and Two Proposed Rules at June 25 Open Meeting
On June 9, at the request of the Futures Industry Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO) announced that they have extended no-action relief that was set to expire on June 30.
Continue Reading CFTC Extends No-Action Relief to Registrants In Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
On May 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) held an open meeting to consider staff recommendations regarding amendments to two CFTC regulations. Both recommendations were approved by a unanimous 5-0 vote. Neither staff document is currently available.
Continue Reading CFTC Holds Open Commission Meeting
On April 6, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a Customer Advisory, alerting the public to a proliferation of fraudulent schemes aiming to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue Reading CFTC Releases COVID-19-Related Customer Advisory on Fee Scams
On April 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule revising CFTC Regulation 160.5. The amended rule implements the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act’s (FAST Act) December 2015 statutory amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) by providing an exception to the requirement that certain futures commission merchants, retail foreign exchange dealers, commodity trading advisors, commodity pool operators, introducing brokers, major swap participants and swap dealers (each, a “covered person”) to provide annual privacy notices to their respective customers. (The obligation to provide an initial privacy notice is unchanged).
Continue Reading CFTC Approves Final Rule Providing Exception to Annual Privacy Notice Requirements
On August 6, the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFXC) published a paper looking back over the first year of the FX Global Code (Code), as well as an updated version of the Code.
The paper highlights the GFXC’s priorities, including:
Continue Reading GFXC Publishes Updated Version of Its FX Global Code
Starting January 3, 2018, physically settled foreign exchange forward transactions (FX Forwards) will be subject to the variation (but not initial) margin requirements set out in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/2251 of October 4, 2016 (EU Margin Regulation) that apply generally to OTC derivatives. FX Forwards are defined in Article 27 of the EU Margin Regulation as “physically settled OTC derivative contracts that solely involve the exchange of two different currencies on a specific future date at a fixed rate agreed on the trade date of the contract covering the exchange.”
Continue Reading Reminder: EU Variation Margin Rules Apply to Physically Settled FX Forwards Beginning January 3, 2018
The Foreign Exchange Working Group (FXWG), operating under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements, has published a final version of its “FX Global Code” (the “Code”), a code of conduct for foreign exchange markets. (This version incorporates Part 1 of the Code that was published in May 2016.) The Code was developed to provide a common set of guidelines to promote the integrity and effective functioning of wholesale foreign exchange markets. The Code does not, however, impose legal or regulatory obligations on “Market Participants,” a term that encompasses most entities (including trading platforms) active in wholesale foreign exchange. The Code will be collectively owned and maintained by the Global Foreign Exchange Committee, a new global association of regional FX committees.
Continue Reading New FX Code of Conduct
On March 22, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a speech by Guy Debelle, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, on finalizing and publishing the complete global code of conduct for the foreign exchange market (Global Code).
Continue Reading Complete FX Global Code of Conduct To Be Released
