New York | London

The CFTC’s revised financial requirements for FCMs and IBs and NFA’s amendments to NFA Financial Requirements Section 1 are effective as of March 31, 2010. The revised requirements impact FCM financial requirements as follows:

• Increase the minimum dollar capital requirement from $500,000 to $1,000,000;
• Increase the risk-based capital requirement for non-customer accounts from 4% to 8% of the total risk margin requirement for positions carried in non-customer accounts; and
• Include cleared over-the-counter derivative positions in an FCM’s risk based capital calculation for customer and non-customer accounts.

The CFTC also revised the financial requirements for IBs by increasing the net capital requirement from $30,000 to $45,000. The CFTC’s increase to the IB minimum capital requirement brings it to the same level currently required under NFA Financial Requirements Section 5.