The growth and expansion of information technology and electronic communication have made it increasingly easy to collect, maintain, and transfer personal information about individuals.  Advancements in technology also have led to increasing threats to the integrity and privacy of personal information.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 (‘‘FCRA’’), as amended in 2003, required several federal agencies to issue joint rules and guidelines regarding the detection, prevention, and mitigation of identity theft for entities that are subject to their respective enforcement authorities (also known as the “identity theft red flag rules”).  At the time the Agencies adopted their rules; the…...

Although the majority of futures and forex transactions occur without issue, occasionally misunderstandings do happen. When either a broker or customer feels they have been wronged during the course of a transaction, NFA’s Arbitration department provides a forum for dispute resolution. NFA’s arbitration program is generally cheaper, faster and less formal than civil litigation or other dispute resolution forums. Claimants do not have to refer to statutes and regulations to prove their claims. However, they are responsible for proving that they have incurred a monetary loss and deserve compensation. Arbitration also has fewer procedural requirements than litigation, which is why…...

As your industry advocate, the NIBA provides many services which help your business stay in compliance with NFA rules. “Ask the NFA,” is the way you can ask questions about those regulations and compliance requirements without having to call NFA directly. Just email us at [email protected] and we will get the answers for you. Please keep in mind the purpose of this contact is to keep the lines of communication between NFA and NIBA members open, not to fix any specific individual concerns.  This month’s questions were selected from those submitted by NIBA members over the last two months. The…...

In this age of heightened regulatory scrutiny and the ever increasing risk of litigation from former employees and customers, coupled with the need to protect valuable trade secrets, it has become a best practice—if not a legal imperative—for IBs to require associated persons (APs) to enter into AP agreements.  AP agreements are designed to help reduce risks to IB employers and clarify expectations with APs.  Moreover, without such an agreement, a court may find that an IB has no trade secrets and no ownership of such important information as customer contact lists, marketing strategies or key documents.   AP agreements…...

 “Ask the NFA” As your industry advocate, the NIBA provides many services which help your business stay in compliance with NFA regulations. “Ask the NFA,” is the way you can ask questions about those regulations and compliance requirements without having to call NFA directly. Just email us at [email protected] and we will get the answers for you. Please keep in mind the purpose of this contact is to keep the lines of communication between NFA and NIBA members open, not to fix any specific individual concerns.  This month’s questions were selected from those submitted by NIBA members over the last…...

On June 5, 2014 NFA issued Notice to Members I-14-13, which outlined important changes that were made to CPO Form PQR and CTA Form PR that will become effective for the period ending June 30, 2014. The updated forms will be available in the EasyFile system the first week of July 2014; however, based on feedback from CPO/CTA Members, NFA is providing this email to highlight the specific steps that were amended and/or added. If you have any questions relating to the above changes, please contact Tracey Hunt, Associate Director, Compliance ([email protected] or 312-781-1284) or Mary McHenry, Associate Director, Compliance…...

As a NIBA member, you are already familiar with the process of applying for CFTC registration and NFA membership. But you may not be familiar with the diverse array of responsibilities relegated to NFA’s registration department. The Registration department reviews applications for CFTC registration and NFA membership, and approves or denies those applications based in part on results of background checks and proof of passing appropriate qualification examinations. In addition to staffing the Information Center, which we highlighted last time and you can find here, the department is responsible for maintaining NFA’s Online Registration System, reviewing all disciplinary information and…...

On Friday, June 6 the CME Group notified us about a new “netting” policy with regard to market data fees which will apply to IBs. The NIBA has been communicating its member concerns vigorously since last November when the CME announced its decision to discontinue the long-standing waiver of these fees. This new policy may bring relief for some NIBA members. It should be noted that the “netting” policy is only applicable to data that is routed from an FCM. It does not apply to any agreements or contracts, IBs may have with individual ISVs. Many GIBs have data provider…...

The latest issue of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability report (GSFR, March 2014) provides a comprehensive analysis of the “too important to fail” (TITF) problem.   http://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/GFSR/2014/01/index.htm  The TITF problem is a well-known one in banking literature, and it arises from the fact that in an interconnected financial world, the failure of a major financial institution can have severe negative macroeconomic and macrofinancial impacts on both a national and global basis, therefore forcing governments to intervene to prevent a financial collapse. The two decades preceding the 2008 financial crisis witnessed an unprecedented period of financial globalization. Cross-border bank claims (as…...

In Re: Notice to Members I-14-03 Request for Comments – CPO/CTA Capital Requirement and Customer Protection Measures April 14, 2014 National Futures Association:  The following comments regarding the above captioned Notice to Members are submitted by the National Introducing Brokers Association (NIBA). The NIBA, founded in 1991 is a membership association of Introducing Brokers (IBs), Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), Futures Commission Merchants FCMs) and other registered professionals who transact futures and options business primarily in, and for, the retail sector of the industry. These comments represent the opinion of our IB and CTA members only. The NFA should not impose…...