On May 24, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notice to Members 1-21-16, announcing the effective date for NFA Member swap dealer and major swap participant dues increases.

NFA Bylaw 1301 imposes annual dues on NFA Member swap dealers (SD) and major swap participants (MSP). The current annual dues amounts have remained unchanged, except for a reduction in MSP annual dues, since NFA established its swap regulatory program in 2013. Given the expansion of NFA’s swaps regulatory program over the past eight years and to fund its operations and maintain adequate reserves, NFA’s Board of Directors, on May 20, unanimously approved the following increases to these annual dues amounts:
Continue Reading Effective Date for NFA Member Swap Dealer and Major Swap Participant Dues Increases

On May 5, the Legal Entity Identifier Regulatory Oversight Committee (LEI ROC) published a consultative document on changes to the technical guidance on the harmonization of critical over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives data elements (CDE Technical Guidance).
Continue Reading LEI ROC Consults on Changes to Technical Guidance on Harmonization of Critical OTC Derivatives Data Elements

On April 28, the Division of Data of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a renewal of the temporary no-action relief available to entities (Relief Counterparties) that submit certain swaps for clearing by derivatives clearing organizations that operate pursuant to CFTC exemptive orders or staff no-action letters (Relief DCOs). CFTC Letter No. 21-12 extends relief

On April 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Data, Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk (collectively, the Divisions) issued CFTC Letter No. 21-11, which (1) provides no-action relief to KalshiEX LLC (Kalshi), a designated contract market, and LedgerX, LLC (LedgerX), a derivatives clearing organization, from reporting to swap data repositories data for binary option transactions executed on or subject to the rules of Kalshi and cleared by LedgerX; and (2) exempts Kalshi and LedgerX from certain related recordkeeping requirements.
Continue Reading CFTC Issues Conditional Relief From Reporting Fully Collateralized Binary Option Data to Swap Data Repositories

On April 13, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued answers to several Frequently Asked Questions to aid members with their reporting obligations under FINRA Rule 4521(d) (the Rule).

The Rule provides that each member carrying margin accounts for customers must submit, on a settlement date basis, as of the last business day of the month: 1) the total of all debit balances in securities margin accounts; and 2) the total of all free credit balances in all cash accounts and all securities margin accounts.
Continue Reading FINRA Publishes Answer to Frequently Asked Questions Under Rule 4521(d) on Margin Balance Reporting

On April 8, the Market Participants Division (MPD), Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR), Division of Data (DOD) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission jointly issued no-action relief, effective immediately, to maintain the regulatory status quo for swap dealers (SD) following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the

On April 13, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notice I-21-15 advising members firms that new NFA Compliance Rule 2-50 and its related Interpretive Notice become effective June 30. (The proposal of the new rule and Interpretive Notice was discussed in the March 12, 2021 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.)
Continue Reading NFA Issues Notice Regarding Effective Date of NFA’s Rules Regarding CPO Notice Filing Requirements

On March 31, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued Notice I-21-14 advising member firms that are registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as swap dealers (SDs), that NFA rules adopting minimum capital and financial reporting requirements will become effective October 6.
Continue Reading NFA Issues Notice Regarding Effective Date of NFA’s Swap Dealer Capital Requirements