The National Futures Association (NFA) recently issued a notice requesting comments on the advisability of subjecting registered commodity pool operators (CPOs) and registered commodity trading advisors (CTAs) to minimum capital requirements and additional customer protection measures.
NFA Requests Comments on Capital Requirements and Additional Customer Protection Measures for CPOs and CTAs
The Current State of the LIBOR Scandal Investigation
The Financial Stability Board stated, in an email to Reuters on January 24, 2014, that it is “is in the process of defining the work it will do on issues around FX benchmarks.”
Bitcoin: The Past or the Future?
Bitcoin strives to be a secure online medium of exchange that provides anonymity and doesn’t require purchasers to surrender credit card information to sellers. While it is not currently a significant market mover, the virtual currency’s regulatory and legal issues are troubling policymakers.
Europe Reaches Deal on Derivatives Trading
The Federal Reserve Approves Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan’s Capital Management Plans
In early December, two Wall Street giants, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, finally satisfied the Federal Reserve’s stiffer requirement with improved capital plans. The banks successfully put the matter behind them by resubmitting capital plans after the regulators found “significant weaknesses” in the ones submitted in March during a stress test. “We are pleased that the Fed determined” the bank’s stress test “process improvements met their expectations,” JPMorgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
The Volcker Rule: Impact on Banking Entities’ Investments in Trust Preferred CDOs
On December 10, 2013, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released final rules (the Final Rules) to implement Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as the “Volcker Rule.”
Volcker Rule challenged in Court: Will Regulators Accede or Demur?
The American Banker’s Association (ABA) filed a petition on December 24, 2013, in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging a provision of the recently approved final version of the Volcker Rule (the Final Rule) requiring community banks to divest their holdings in a commonly held debt instrument known as Collateralized Debt Obligation backed by Trust-Preferred Securities or TruPS-backed CDO.
SEC & DOJ: Friends Or Foes In Civil Securities Litigation?
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), have found themselves fighting in the same arena this year as the DOJ aggressively tackled two high profile civil cases. The overlap has sparked speculation as to why the DOJ is poaching territory that is usually under the SEC’s purview.
China’s GlaxoSmithKline Investigation
GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) investigation serves as a cautionary tale to American companies, particularly health-focused companies, interested in operating in China. GSK’s pharmaceutical sales plummeted sixty percent in the third quarter due to a Chinese anti-corruption investigation. In July 2013, the Chinese government accused the pharmaceutical giant of funneling approximately $500 million to government officials, medical associations, hospitals, and doctors in order to boost sales of their products. China has arrested several GSK officials and will likely require the company to pay a fine above $2 billion. The investigation is part of China’s efforts to curb business corruption and clean up its health industry, which is undergoing a massive expansion.
Prospectus Disclosure Regime in Europe — the Proportionate Disclosure Regime and Supplementary Prospectuses
Regulators have recently clarified two important aspects of the prospectus regime that applies across the European Economic Area pursuant to the Prospectus Directive (Directive 2003/71/EC as amended by Directive 2010/73/EU). The Prospectus Directive provides the overarching European regulatory framework for the publication of prospectuses in connection with debt and equity securities being offered to the public or admitted to trading on regulated markets in the EEA.