The Exchange Act violations, with regard to trade and position reporting, did not result from the use of financial derivatives or hedging strategies. Mr. Cooperman allegedly failed to properly aggregate related holdings and to report positions within the required time frame.

During his tenure as a Commissioner, the now-Acting Chair Giancarlo was constant in his attention to (i) making the CFTC more efficient through improved use of technology and (ii) exploring how technology can improve regulated markets without the regulators becoming a roadblock. (.) The latter focus area demonstrates an understanding that regulators too often lack. Change is inevitable. It takes special care and leadership to foster a regulatory environment that does not slow down or inhibit…

The NFA's advocacy for automatic approval by the CFTC of models approved by another regulator is consistent with the comments of trade industry associations, although narrower. That is, the NFA requested automatic approval for models approved by the prudential (banking) regulators, but not (for some reason) for models approved by the SEC or non-U.S. regulators. Further, it does not appear that the time period for model review suggested by the NFA is likely to be sufficient. Even if models…

One problem with the proposal is the distinction it makes between traditional and nontraditional activities. This distinction is based upon the time in which a particular type of financial activity was created and the substance of the activity. For example, entering into swap transactions (particularly as to rates and currencies) and clear swaps and futures should be viewed as core banking activities: they are activities that are completely about credit intermediation. To assert that…