ICE Futures ordered to beef up compliance
Felix Shipkevich - February 3, 2010The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight notified ICE Futures US of the results of a rule enforcement review. The review covered the period from June 1, 2007 through June 1, 2008. The Division assessed ICE Futures’ compliance with core principles relating to audit trail, trade practice surveillance, disciplinary and dispute resolution programs.
The Division found that [...]
Revised Adjusted Net Capital Requirements for FCMs and IBs
Felix Shipkevich - December 31, 2009The CFTC is amending its regulations that prescribe minimum adjusted net capital requirements for futures commission merchants (‘‘FCMs’’) and introducing brokers (‘‘IBs’’). The amendments: increase the required minimum dollar amount of adjusted net capital that an IB must maintain from $30,000 to 45,000; increase the required minimum dollar amount of adjusted net capital that an [...]
CFTC modifies filing and reporting requirements applicable to FCMs and IBs
Felix Shipkevich - December 30, 2009The CFTC is amending certain of its regulations in connection with electronic filing of financial reports and related notices. The amendments broaden the language in the Commission’s regulations applicable to electronic filings of financial reports to clarify that, to the extent a futures commission merchant (‘‘FCM’’) submits a Form 1–FR to the Commission electronically, it [...]
NFA guidelines on the use of social networking groups
Felix Shipkevich - December 8, 2009On-line Social Networking Groups – Proposed Amendments to NFA’s Compliance Rule 2-29(h) and Adoption of Interpretive Notice
On-line social networking groups have changed the way people make trading decisions. A number of NFA Members sponsor blogs, chat rooms, and forums (also called message or bulletin boards), and some use sites like Facebook or Twitter for business [...]
NFA proposes amendments to Financial Requirements Section 15 regarding FDM internal financial controls
Felix Shipkevich - December 3, 2009Financial Requirements Section 15 currently requires firms to provide NFA with an internal control report prior to acting as an FDM. This report must be prepared by an independent public accountant registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and must include representations by the accountant that the FDM’s internal financial controls have no material [...]
Federal Regulators Issue Final Model Privacy Notice Form
Felix Shipkevich - November 17, 2009Under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act), institutions must notify consumers of their information-sharing practices and inform consumers of their right to opt out of certain sharing practices. The model form can be used by financial institutions to comply with these requirements.
CFTC ACTION: EMF Financial Products LLC
Felix Shipkevich - November 13, 2009CFTC fined hedge fund EMF Financial Products LLC $4 million for making false statements about its market positions relating to U.S. Treasury note futures. The CFTC said EMF failed to fully disclose to the CBOT its control of up to $11.9 billion of the underlying cheapest-to-deliver security on the September 2005 contract, even as it [...]
CFTC ACTION: Michael Kourmolis
Felix Shipkevich - November 12, 2009The CFTC obtained a consent order against Michael Kourmolis, of Brooklyn, N.Y., permanently prohibiting him from engaging in any activity related to trading any commodity interests, including soliciting funds, registering with the CFTC and trading on behalf of others or himself. Kourmolis fraudulently solicited customers to open accounts to trade foreign currency futures contracts. Kourmolis [...]
CFTC ACTION: three Canadian defendants charged
Felix Shipkevich - November 9, 2009The CFTC announced that a federal court entered default judgment orders against Robin States and his wife Bernadette Bowden, both of Nova Scotia, Canada, and relief defendant Paul States, of British Columbia, Canada, in a CFTC action charging the defendants with fraudulent solicitation and misappropriation in connection with the operation of commodity pool known as [...]
New prudential regime for personal investment firms
Felix Shipkevich - November 6, 2009Under the new rules, all PIFs will have to hold capital resources worth at least three months of their annual fixed expenditure in realizable assets such as cash. The minimum capital resources threshold for any firm will be set at £20,000. The transition to the new regime has been extended by a year to 31 [...]
