According to an FSA report, hedge funds were not a significant cause of the financial crisis, although they may potentially create systemic risk. Among the other interesting findings in the survey (of 50 FSA-regulated managers responsible for 100 funds): Assets under management increased in the survey period; assets below their high-water mark have remained stable; In most markets, the footprint of funds is modest; For most funds, leverage remains largely unchanged; Funds report being able to liquidate assets in a shorter time frame before, rather than the period after which their liabilities

In response to a petition from certain Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) and Independent System Operators (ISOs), the CFTC approved a proposed order that would exempt certain specified transactions of the RTOs and ISOs from the provisions of the CEA and CFTC regulations. The proposed order would exempt contracts, agreements and transactions for the purchase or sale of limited electricity-related products. To be eligible for the exemption, the transactions would have to be entered into by "appropriate persons," as defined in Section 4(c)(3)(A) through (J) of the CEA, or "eligible

The MSRB has announced that they will cohost (with Bond Dealers of America) a municipal securities regulation seminar for municipal market participants. When: Thursday, October 11, 2012 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Where: Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 160 East Pearson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611 A panel will address current MSRB initiatives. These include: underwriters' duty to issuers; retail order periods; regulations of brokers' brokers; and the development of risk-based examinations. MSRB Rule G-23 and the role-switching prohibition will also be discussed. View press release here (links

The MSRB announced the publication of a report summarizing the type and number of continuing disclosure documents for municipal bonds submitted by issuers to the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access website (EMMA). View report here (links externally to MSRB website). See also the SEC's recent study on the municipal bond market.

SIFMA issued a letter outlining the principal problems it concludes are posed for securitization markets in the absence of generalized relief from the proposed expansion of commodity pool regulation under the CEA. The problem raised in the letter is that the expanded scope of the definition of "Commodity Pool" under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, which includes "swaps" as commodity interests, raises a question as to whether securitization entities that have entered or will enter into swaps could be viewed as commodity pools. In the letter, SIFMA expressed concern over the broad