CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on the status of Dodd-Frank Title VII implementation. Chairman Gensler described the CFTC's continuing efforts in the swaps rule-making area as follows: Transparency: The CFTC is working to finish the pre-trade transparency rules for swap execution facilities ("SEFs"), as well as the block rule for swaps; Clearing: Chairman Gensler expects that the CFTC will soon complete a rule to exempt swaps between certain affiliated entities within a corporate group from the clearing requirements, and will be considering

CFTC Commissioner Chilton delivered remarks addressing the significance of the collapse of MF Global and Peregrine on the futures industry and the importance of increased customer protections with regard to FCMs. He noted that several improvements have already been made, while others are in the process of being implemented. The most important of these prospective improvements is the establishment of an insurance fund for futures customers, which would be similar to those already in place for securities and banking customers. View speech in full here (links externally to CFTC website).

The SEC has granted seven major broker-dealers temporary approval of a margin methodology to be applied to cleared CDS transactions. This approval, in combination with an exemptive order entered by the SEC last year, will enable the broker-dealers to commingle customers' CDS transactions consisting of swaps and security-based swaps in a segregated account maintained in accordance with section 4d(f) of the Commodity Exchange Act. This, in turn, will enable the broker-dealers to margin the positions on a portfolio basis. The margin methodology approved by the SEC imposes margin requirements

SIFMA Acting President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. provided the attached testimony before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee for a hearing to examine legislative improvements to Dodd-Frank Title VII ("Wall Street Transparency and Accountability"), which deals primarily with derivatives. While affirming that SIFMA supports the intended goals of the Act, Bentsen called attention to the fact that, if Title VII is implemented incorrectly, it may cause more harm than good, since incorrect implementation has the potential to detrimentally limit the availability and increase the cost of

SIFMA Managing Director Nancy Donohoe Lancia testified before a Minnesota State Legislature panel on state bills HF 677 and SF 552, which would create a tax on financial services. SIFMA and its member firms testified in opposition to the imposition of the sales tax on financial services, arguing that the sales tax on services proposed in HF 677 and SF 552 would likely lead to decreased business activity and employment in the state and would increase the cost of doing business in Minnesota. Click here to view testimony in full (links externally to SIFMA website). Related News: "SIFMA Memorandum