At the Kansas City Conference we discussed CFTC Rule 1.71, which among other things, applies to conflicts of interests within a brokerage operation. That is to say that the “research” department and the “trading” desks must independently coexist. The genesis of the rule really comes from the securities industry where research departments tout trade recommendations to the brokers who in turn interact with their clients and often suggest the trade. Admittedly, there is some overlap with the commodities world, but not as much as one may suppose leading to a conclusion that trying to replicate this concept in our industry…