The House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 4413, the Consumer Protection and End User Relief Act, which reauthorizes appropriations to the CFTC through 2018 and directs the CFTC to issue rules governing the cross-border regulation of derivatives transactions. The bill also: provides materially increased insolvency benefits for customers of failed FCMs, albeit by effectively subordinating all non-customer claims of an FCM to customer claims (section 102); includes new cost-benefit analyses and procedural requirements for the CFTC (section 203); requires the CFTC to submit, every five years

Blanche Lincoln, the former Democratic Senator from Arkansas who was one of the leading proponents of Dodd-Frank, published an opinion piece in Forbes. The article discussed the difference between Dodd-Frank's intent and the effect of its execution on the OTC derivatives market. Former Senator Lincoln asserted that manufacturers and other businesses that use derivatives to hedge normal risk are "still up in the air" about whether they will have to set aside millions of dollars to comply with proposed margin requirements under Dodd-Frank. The current rules leave end users uncertain about the

The Futures Industry Association ("FIA") released its' sixth report in a series covering the specific areas of the European Securities and Markets Authority's ("ESMA") consultation process for the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MiFID II") and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation ("MiFIR"). The report, titled "Defining High Frequency Trading," provides an overview of key interpretations relating to high-frequency and algorithmic trading.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (the "Court") requested supplemental briefs from SIFMA, ISDA, the Institution of International Bankers ("Associations") and the CFTC regarding (i) shareholder standing and (ii) interpretive rules in the lawsuit against the CFTC's Cross-Border Guidance. Specifically, the Court and newly assigned Judge Paul Friedman requested that the Associations and the CFTC submit no more than 12 pages in length addressing: whether the "shareholder standing" rule in the Cross-Border Guidance, which states that "[n]o shareholder – not even a sole shareholder

The National Futures Association ("NFA") issued a Notice to Members to highlight the specific changes that were made to CPO Form PQR and CTA Form PR in Notice to Members I-14-13. These changes will become effective for the period ending June 30, 2014. The updated forms will be available in the EasyFile system the first week of July 2014. See: PDF Detailing Changes to Forms; Notice I-14-15. Related news: NFA Announces Changes to CPO Form PQR and CTA Form PR (Notice I-14-13) (June 6, 2014).