The NFA Board of Directors announced that it has approved two measures which will further enhance customer protection safeguards. The first measure will enable NFA to make better use of technology in order to better monitor FCM segregation compliance. Secondly, NFA's Board approved rule amendments to increase the capital requirement, for FCMs acting as counterparties in off-exchange FX transactions with eligible contract participants ("ECP"), to $20 million in adjusted net capital. Click here to view notice in full (links externally to NFA website).See also related news story: NFA Proposed

The NFA issued the following three regulatory notices regarding CPOs and CTAs: 12-33: Application of NFA Assessment Fee to Proprietary Trading Firms That May Be Subject to CPO Registration; 12-34: Guidance on Obligations under NFA Bylaw 1101 for Commodity Pool Operator Members Advising Pools That Are Registered Investment Companies; and 12-35: Member Obligations under NFA Bylaw 1101 and Compliance Rule 2-36(d) with Respect to CPOs/CTAs Exempt from Registration prior to December 31, 2012.The last notice concerns how an NFA member firm should deal with pools that may have lost their exempt

The Energy Metro Desk has published a short interview with CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton in which the Commissioner confirms that lobbying on Dodd-Frank issues is continuing, albeit on how the rules will impact firms' business, and in which he opines that there is zero chance that Dodd-Frank will be subject to a substantial redo. Lofchie Comment: In the interview, Commissioner Chilton describes financial "lobbyists" as having descended on the CFTC "like a plague." Speaking as someone who has been consistently critical of Dodd-Frank, as well as of some of the implementing rules, the description

The SEC charged two investment advisory firms and two portfolio managers responsible for managing a Midwest-based closed-end mutual fund for their roles in the failure to adequately inform investors about the fund's risky derivative strategies that contributed to its collapse during the financial crisis. See: SEC Order: Claymore Advisors; SEC Order: Mohammed Riad and Kevin Timothy Swanson; SEC Order: Fiduciary Asset Management.

The CFTC approved interim final rules delaying the compliance dates for certain business conduct and documentation requirements applicable to swap dealers and major swap participants. Additionally, the CFTC voted 5-0 to approve the interim final rules, which will become effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register. The CFTC also indicated that it will consider any comments received during a 30-day period following publication of the interim final rules and may revise the rules based on comments received. The rulemaking comes in response to requests from a variety of market