SEC announced that Andrew M. Calamari has been named Director of the New York Regional Office. Calamari has been serving as Acting Director of the New York office since the promotion of George Canellos to Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement earlier this year. The New York office has responsibility for the largest concentration of SEC-registered financial institutions including more than 4,000 investment banks, investment advisers, broker-dealers, mutual funds, and hedge funds. View Press Release in full here (links externally to SEC website).

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight issued an interpretation that a limited liability company whose members were two cousins was not a "commodity pool" within the meaning and intent of Regulation 4.10(d)(1) and, consequently, that the managing member could not be a CPO (as there was no pool of which he might be a CPO). Lofchie Comment: While the result is good, this seems like a lot of regulatory effort to spend on a determination that two cousins co-investing are not a commodity pool. It would be a lot more efficient if the CFTC were simply to follow the SEC's definition of

The FDIC issued a final rule that implements a part of the Dodd-Frank Act which permits the FDIC, as receiver for a financial company whose failure would pose a significant risk to the financial stability of the United States (a ‘‘covered financial company’’), to enforce contracts of subsidiaries or affiliates of the covered financial company, despite contract clauses that purport to terminate, accelerate or provide for other remedies based on the insolvency, financial condition or receivership of the covered financial company. As a condition to maintaining these subsidiary or affiliate

SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar delivered a speech on the current lack of trust in the capital markets. Motivated by recent reports that, if taken together, imply that investors have little or no trust in the markets ( e.g., 79% of investors have no trust in the financial system), Commissioner Aguilar argues that the SEC must be proactive in demonstrating how it is pro-investor in order for public trust in the markets to return. To that end, Aguilar considers in depth the ways in which the SEC Enforcement Program can do more to effectively prosecute violators of the securities laws. This

The CFTC announced the attached upcoming closed meetings on surveillance and enforcement matters. Sunshine Act Meeting: November 2, 2012 // PDF Version Sunshine Act Meeting: November 9, 2012 // PDF Version Sunshine Act Meeting: November 16, 2012 // PDF Version Sunshine Act Meeting: November 23, 2012 // PDF Version Sunshine Act Meeting: November 30, 2012 // PDF Version