MFA a nounced the release of a comprehensive guide regarding the EU Short Selling Regulation (SSR). The SSR will take effect on November 1, 2012. See: Resource Guide: EU Short Selling Regulation Compliance (links externally to MFA website).

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) issued a report mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act recommending several improvement initiatives, primarily focused on the agency's internal infrastructure. This report is the third of four agency reports to Congress pursuant to Dodd-Frank Section 967(c), which requires periodic studies on the implementation of regulatory and administrative recommendations in the consultant's report. Recommendations in the BCG report include: redesigning organizations, enhancing risk management capabilities and internal controls, strengthening the agency's understanding of its

The SEC published a release setting out its proposed capital, margin and segregation requirements for firms that will be security-based swap dealers or major security-based swap participants. Lofchie Comment: In light of the length and complexity of the release, I will give myself the weekend to say anything substantive. Certainly, the release asks numerous open-ended questions and seems a genuine attempt to solicit feedback on a broad range of difficult issues. In this regard, the SEC should be praised for directly confronting some of the issues that both regulators and market participants

The Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) provided no-action relief to the general partner of a commodity pool from registering as a CPO under Section 4m(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), and allowed an affiliated CPO ("designee"), which is in each case the investment manager of the relevant pool, to serve as the CPO of the pool instead where the following conditions were met: (1) the general partner and the designee are under common ownership and control; (2) the general partner has delegated all of its management authority to the designee; (3) the general partner

CME Group and the Kansas City Board of Trade announced that they have signed a definitive agreement under which CME Group will acquire the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT).