On April 6, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the New York State Legislature’s Senate Bill 297B/Assembly Bill 164B (the New York LIBOR Legislation), strengthening the groundwork for the forthcoming...more
5/6/2021
/ Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) ,
Benchmarks ,
Contracts Clause ,
Federal Reserve ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Interest Rates ,
Legacy Contracts ,
Libor ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Safe Harbors ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Trust Indenture Act
On 5 March 2021, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the administrator of LIBOR, ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) each made important announcements for parties to instruments or other contracts referencing LIBOR. ...more
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 22, 2020, to once more delay the implementation of amendments to FINRA Rule...more
1/12/2021
/ Adjustable-Rate Mortgage ,
Amended Regulation ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Collateralized Loan Obligations ,
Comment Period ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Margin Requirements ,
Mortgages ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Time Extensions
On November 30, 2020, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) announced that the ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICE and the administrator of LIBOR, will consult in early December 2020...more
As we have previously reported, in July 2017, the UK Financial Conduct Authority announced that it would no longer use its legal powers to persuade or compel contributing banks to make the transaction data submissions...more
On April 3, 2020, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued a statement recommending an extension to Phases 5 and 6 of the initial margin...more
Asset managers will need to consider how FinTech developments impact their business model in 2020, including developments related to digital asset securities, cryptocurrency-based ETFs and blockchain.
In this Bottom Line...more
3/2/2020
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Asset Management ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
ETFs ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Management ,
Investors ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Transactions ,
Unregistered Securities
Regulators are increasing pressure on financial institutions to demonstrate that they are proactively addressing the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The New York State Department of Financial...more
2/13/2020
/ Asset Management ,
Banking Sector ,
Banks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Libor ,
NYDFS ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Transitional Arrangements
Regulators are increasing pressure on financial institutions to demonstrate that they are proactively addressing the transition away from LIBOR. On December 23, 2019, the New York State Department of Financial Services...more
1/13/2020
/ Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) ,
Audit Committee ,
Banking Sector ,
Benchmarks ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Compliance ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Form 10-K ,
Form 10-Q ,
Insurance Industry ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
ISDA ,
Libor ,
NYDFS ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 25, 2019, to once more delay the implementation of amendments to FINRA Rule...more
On August 20, 2019, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) approved amendments to the regulations implementing Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act,...more
8/25/2019
/ Amended Regulation ,
Bank Holding Company ,
Banking Sector ,
FDIC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Final Rules ,
Hedging ,
NPRM ,
OCC ,
Proprietary Trading ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Volcker Rule
Earlier this month, staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published guidance that encourages market participants to move away from LIBOR (the Staff Statement). The interest benchmark rate is expected to...more
7/29/2019
/ Asset-Backed Securities ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Collateralized Debt Obligations ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
FASB ,
IASB ,
Investment Adviser ,
Libor ,
Market Participants ,
Mortgage-Backed Securities ,
New Guidance ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Risk Management ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) filed a proposed rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 29, 2019, to once more delay, until March 25, 2020, the implementation of...more
On January 7, 2019, the National Futures Association (NFA) issued an amendment to its Interpretive Notice on required Information Systems Security Programs (ISSPs) for NFA Members. ISSPs are required by the NFA so that NFA...more
On November 5, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously adopted a final rule to set a permanent $8 billion swap dealing activity threshold for purposes of the swap dealer de minimis exemption (Final...more
On September 19, 2018, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) published the ISDA Benchmarks Supplement, which allows adhering entities to amend the contractual triggers and fallbacks of...more
Dramatic changes are on the horizon for the most widely used benchmarks for interest, investment and derivatives rates: the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) for various currencies. Notwithstanding efforts by regulators...more
8/21/2018
/ Banking Sector ,
Benchmarks ,
EU Benchmark Regulation ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Interest Rates ,
ISDA ,
ISDA Master Agreement ,
Libor ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) ,
UK
Earlier today, the National Futures Association (NFA) launched an electronic filing system for submitting promotional materials to the NFA for review (the New Filing System). Until now, promotional materials subject to NFA...more
Earlier today, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to further delay the implementation of amendments to its Rule 4210 that were adopted...more
Persons claiming exemptions from registration as a commodity pool operator (CPO) or a commodity trading advisor (CTA) must affirm their exemptions by March 1, 2018. Pursuant to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)...more
The Council of the European Union (EU) has proposed an amendment to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) that eliminates mandatory initial margin requirements for physically settled foreign exchange (FX)...more
On October 12, 2017, the Division of Clearing and Risk (Division) of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an interpretative letter in response to a request for clarification on whether payments of...more
Earlier this week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight extended existing no-action relief from trading on a swap execution facility for package transactions until November 15, 2020....more
On May 30, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted final rules to amend its existing regulation 1.31 (Regulation 1.31). Regulation 1.31 sets forth the form and manner in which all records retained in...more
On March 15, 2017, while speaking at the Annual International Futures Industry Conference, J. Christopher Giancarlo, the acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and President Donald Trump’s nominee...more