The CFTC released its annual performance report for the fiscal year 2012. Lofchie Comment: It looks pretty professional, with nice pictures of the staff (all smiling). I like the font, the colors and the use of graphics. View report in full here (links externally to CFTC website).

The CFTC had meetings with ICE as well as with Raj Mahajan, CEO of Allston Trading. See: Meeting with ICE; Meeting with Raj Mahajan.

CFTC Commissioner Scott O'Malia released a statement in which he criticized the process which granted relief to end users from CFTC Rules Part 43, 45 and 46. He described the process by which the letters were issued as "arbitrary and ad-hoc" and the various terms of the letters as "confusing." Commissioner O'Malia went on to say that unanswered concerns regarding data reporting requirements, coupled with the Commission's refusal to allow extensions for market participants to bring the IT infrastructure up to date, has led to the end user "suffering" the most. O'Malia also stated that the

The CFTC and the SEC (collectively, the "Commissions") are jointly issuing final rules and guidelines to require certain registrants to establish programs to address identity theft. These rules and guidelines implement provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which amended section 615(e) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and directed the Commissions to adopt rules requiring entities that are subject to the Commissions' respective enforcement authorities to address identity theft. The rules apply to essentially all of the financial intermediaries regulated by the two Commissions. According to the CFTC

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler delivered a speech on the CFTC's Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Submission. The budget estimates the need for an appropriation of $315 million. Chairman Gensler described the amount as only a $7 million increase in funding over the President’s FY 2013 Budget of $308 million. However, in a dissenting statement, Commissioner O'Malia described the request as "improbable"; "an increase of 52 percent above the current funding level of $206.6 [million]." Commissioner O'Malia went on to say, "[g]iven the vast deficit spending challenges this country is facing, I do not believe it