On December 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a series of potentially far-reaching changes to the regulation of the security-based swap (SBS) markets. Among other changes, the proposed rules would...more
On December 15, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new rule “intended to improve the quality, relevance and timeliness of information related to issuer share repurchases.” Specifically, the new rule...more
We are pleased to publish the Third Edition of our Energy & Infrastructure Insight, providing information and analysis of the current issues facing the energy and infrastructure sectors across the globe.
In this latest...more
10/19/2020
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
Hydrogen Power ,
Infrastructure ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Renewable Energy ,
Taiwan ,
Wind Power
The CFTC has adopted a final rule to prohibit the controversial practice of post-trade name give-up for swaps that are executed anonymously through a Swap Execution Facility (SEF) and are intended to be cleared. Although the...more
In the wake of considerable market criticism of prior proposals, the CFTC has proposed a new approach to addressing certain risks of electronic trading. The CFTC has now officially withdrawn, on a 3-2 vote, its controversial...more
On June 25, 2020, the Federal Reserve, Farm Credit Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Housing Finance Agency and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “Agencies”) finalized amendments to...more
On June 18, 2020, the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) announced the details of an examination initiative specifically focused on LIBOR preparedness. OCIE has...more
On June 30, 2020, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) released a series of updates concerning fallbacks and conventions for new variable rate private student loans and syndicated loans, as well as the results of...more
The CFTC has recently published the following final and proposed rules codifying previously issued no action relief and restoring consumer information privacy policies and procedures...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC) has issued long-awaited final interpretive guidance regarding the “actual delivery” exception to retail commodity transactions involving digital or virtual currencies under...more
On May 27, 2020, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) published best practices for completing the financial industry’s transition away from U.S. dollar (USD) LIBOR. With 19 months remaining before the anticipated...more
As the world responds to COVID-19, we have identified a wide variety of compliance and legal considerations for asset managers. We previously summarized a select list of these considerations on March 18, 2020. Given the...more
As the world responds to COVID-19, we have identified a number of compliance and legal considerations for asset managers. We summarize a select list of these in our note below....more
3/20/2020
/ Asset Management ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Commodity Pool ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cyber Threats ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Futures ,
Information Security ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Companies ,
Liquidity ,
NFA ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Short Selling ,
Telecommuting ,
Valuation
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has implications for derivatives contracts. For example, some companies are asserting that the reported disruptions in the global supply-chain and travel restrictions constitute...more
3/12/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
Contract Terms ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Derivatives ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Infectious Diseases ,
ISDA ,
ISDA Master Agreement ,
Supply Chain ,
Travel Restrictions
On February 25, 2020, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) launched a new consultation on how to implement pre-cessation fallback language into derivatives agreements. Responses are due by no later than...more
In the wake of significant market discussion, the CFTC has proposed an amendment to Part 37 of the Commission’s regulations to eliminate the practice of “post-trade name give-up” for swaps traded on certain swap execution...more
3/10/2020
/ Amended Rules ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodities Traders ,
Derivatives ,
Give-Up Release ,
Popular ,
Public Comment ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Swap Execution Facilities ,
Swaps
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued three no-action letters providing relief for swap transactions (and amendments to swap transactions) in connection with the expected market transition from using the...more
2/19/2020
/ Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) ,
CFTC ,
De Minimus Quantity Exemption ,
Inter-Bank Offered Rates (IBORs) ,
Libor ,
Market Participants ,
No-Action Letters ,
No-Action Relief ,
Risk Free Rates (RFRs) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Transitional Arrangements
The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) announced on Wednesday, February 5th, that they will stop accepting LIBOR-indexed adjustable-rate mortgages...more
As a further step towards the implementation of its security-based swap regime, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted a number of long-awaited capital, margin and segregation requirements for security-based...more
11/14/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Capital Requirements ,
CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Final Rules ,
Margin Requirements ,
MSBSPs ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Segregation Requirements ,
Swap Dealers
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to take steps toward implementation of its security-based swap (SBS) dealer registration framework. A particular area of concern for market participants has been how the...more
9/4/2019
/ CFTC ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Disqualification ,
Financial Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Foreign Financial Accounts ,
Market Participants ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Rules of Practice ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swap Dealers ,
Threshold Requirements
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed a series of changes to its general regulations governing derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs). The CFTC has stated that the proposed amendments are intended to...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed the first installment of a series of amendments to its rules relating to swap data repositories (SDRs) and reporting of swap data. The proposed amendments, which...more
On May 2, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Board proposed amendments to Regulation EE, which implements the netting provisions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991...more
On March 6, 2019, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published proposed amendments to the 2014 ISDA Credit Derivatives Definitions relating to so-called narrowly tailored credit events (NTCEs). ISDA...more
On February 12, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) published the 2019 examination priorities for its Division of Market Oversight (DMO), Division of Swap Dealer & Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) and Division...more