At an open meeting on December 5, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC) approved a final rule (the Final Rule) to amend existing CFTC Reg. § 1.25 regarding the investment of customer funds held as margin for futures and cleared swaps by derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) and futures commission merchants (FCMs). A pre-publication copy of the Final Rule and other related information is available below in full article.

In response to concerns arising out of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and other recent events that have occurred in the futures market, the Final Rule is more restrictive than existing CFTC Reg. § 1.25. However, as a result of public comments submitted in response to the CFTC’s proposed revisions to Reg. § 1.25 which were issued in October 2010, the Final Rule provides DCOs and FCMs more flexibility in investing customer funds than they would have had under the CFTC’s original proposal. A chart comparing existing CFTC Reg. § 1.25, the CFTC’s proposal and the Final Rule is available below in full article.