The CFTC has granted Banque Centrale de Compensation, doing business as LCH.Clearnet SA (LCH.C SA), registration as a derivatives clearing organization ("DCO") pursuant to CEA Section 5b ("Derivatives Clearing Organizations"). LCH.C SA, a subsidiary of LCH.Clearnet Group, Ltd., is organized under the laws of France and is primarily regulated in France. The CFTC stated that, subject to the terms and conditions of the Order, LCH.C SA is authorized to provide clearing services for credit default swaps. See: CFTC Press Release. Related news: CFTC No-Action Letter 13-52: LCH.Clearnet Ltd and

SIFMA has submitted comments to the SEC about the Chicago Board Options Exchange's ("CBOE") proposal to amend CBOE Rule 6.53 regarding option orders that are tied to stock orders. SIFMA applauded the CBOE's effort to enhance surveillance efforts, but said additional clarification should be required. For example, SIFMA said that the new rule does not specify whether clearing firms can report on behalf of the executing broker, a practice that SIFMA stated is common in the industry. SIFMA also identified a potential conflict with CBOE Rule 8.9(b), which requires clearing firms to submit on a

SIFMA has submitted comments to the IRS on proposed U.S. Treasury regulations relating to the definition of "issue price" of tax-exempt bonds for purposes of the arbitrage rules under Section 148 of the Internal Revenue Code. According to the letter, SIFMA disagrees with the approach to determining issue price embodied in the proposed regulations, which seeks to formalize policies previously applied through unofficial or non-precedential public statements, examination inquiries and practices of the Tax Exempt Bonds ("TEB") division of the Governmental Entities division of the Tax Exempt and

IOSCO issued two studies on December 13, one related to regulatory issues raised by the evolution of market structure (other than derivatives markets), and the other regarding incentive fees provided by exchanges and other markets and their impact on trading behavior. In connection with its report on market structure, IOSCO noted the benefits of increased competition because of the proliferation of different types of trading spaces - exchanges, non-exchange trading market systems ( e.g., Automated Trading Systems in the U.S. and Multilateral Trading Facilities in Europe), and OTC trading

Last week, ICE announced its intent to migrate LIFFE UK's contracts to the ICE trading platform ("WebICE") and ICE Futures Europe beginning Summer 2014. The first contracts migrated will be agricultural commodity contracts, followed by LIFFE UK's equity derivatives contracts during the third quarter of 2014, and LIFFE UK's interest rate contracts during the fourth. Contemporaneously with these transitions, ICE will also transfer the listing of LIFFE US' Eurodollar and DTCC GCF Repo futures contracts to LIFFE in the UK during mid-2014, while the clearing will transfer from New York Portfolio