The CFTC Division of Market Oversight ("DM") issued time-limited no-action relief to trueEX, a designed contract market ("DCM") and temporarily registered swap execution facility ("SEF") from the oral communication recordkeeping requirements of CFTC Rule 1.35(a) ("Records of Commodity, Interest and Related Cash or Forward Transactions"). The letter provides relief to the extent that such requirements apply to commodity trading advisors ("CTAs") that are members of trueEX’s designated contract market (“trueEX DCM”) in connection with the execution of swaps on the trueEX DCM. The relief will

In a speech at the 2014 Bank of Canada International Economic Analysis Workshop on Financialization of Commodity Markets, Commissioner O'Malia discussed the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act and CFTC regulations on commercial end-users who have historically used the commodity futures and swaps markets for risk mitigation and hedging. In his remarks, Commissioner O'Malia focused on the following: the importance of hedging in the commodity markets, especially given volatile commodity prices; the impact that Dodd-Frank and CFTC reforms have had on hedging in the commodity markets, including the

SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director Keith Higgins delivered a speech discussing the new SEC capital formation rules and disclosure reform. Director Higgins explained that the JOBS Act initiated changes in the way that securities could be offered and sold. He noted that it "upended" a primary principle that had become fundamental in securities markets, which was that a private offering could not be conducted by means of general solicitation. Director Higgins explained that the SEC has taken steps to implement the Act, which can be seen in the new Rule 506(c) exemption, which allow

The SEC Office of Investor Education issued an Investor Alert to warn investors of potentially fraudulent investment schemes involving individuals or firms claiming to be registered with the SEC. According to the Investor Alert, a recent fraud case brought by the SEC, in which the defendants allegedly recruited investors by misrepresenting that their firm was "registered" or "duly registered" with the SEC and pointed to the firm's Form D filings to support the misrepresentation, exemplifies this threat. The Investor Alert states that a Form D filing has nothing to do with whether an individual

The North American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA") announced that its annual Public Policy Conference will take place on April 8, 2014, in Washington, D.C. See: Press Release; Registration Information. See also: Mercatus Scholar Adam Ozimek's Paper on "Prediction Markets" (with Zwirb Comment) (March 13, 2014).