NATIONAL FUTURES ASSOCIATION 2015 Annual Pool Financial Statement Requirements The National Futures Association (“NFA”) has distributed reminder notices regarding filing requirements under Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulations 4.7, 4.12 and 4.22 (“Annual Report Notice”) to Registered commodity pool operators (“CPOs”). Pursuant to CFTC Regulations, CPOs are required to distribute a certified audit (“Annual Report”) to investors within ninety (90) days after the fiscal year-end. Additionally, the Annual Report must be submitted to the NFA through the EasyFile system. For the December 31, 2015, fiscal year end, the Annual Report is due to the NFA and investors by March 30,....
It’s a Shield, not a Sword
Brian Clark is the CEO of Ascent Technologies, Inc. (www.Ascent.is), a company that offers a compliance platform for users to help them identify, track, and manage the vast amount of regulations with which their firm has to comply. Businesses on the wrong side of the law often feel as if they’d been bludgeoned by instruments of jurisprudence, bearing a distinct scarlet letter from the administration of executive-based (re: administrative) and judicial-based (re: State/Federal Court) actions. Gone are the days of quiet settlements, and second chances: regulators in all industries increasingly look for large and small regulatory violations alike. Playing defense....
NFA Board of Director’s Election
The NFA sent out its notice to members of the newly elected members to the NFA Board of Directors. This year the only contested election was in the CPO/CTA category. The results of those elections are as follows: CPO/CTA Representatives: Douglas L. Bry Senior Strategist Welton Investment Partners LLC Ernest L. Jaffarian CEO/CIO Efficient Capital Management LLC The NFA Board of Directors Introducing Brokers Representatives remained the same. Mike Burke will continue to represent as the IIB member and Paul Georgy will continue to represent as the GIB member. NIBA is excited and looking forward to working with Paul Georgy....
Chairman’s Letter
Dear Members – The primary objectives of the NIBA have remained the same since we were founded in June 1991: To help members find greater success through education and networking, and, To provide members with a voice in regulatory and industry matters. To name just a few noteworthy objectives accomplished through regular member meetings, newsletters and representation of your interests and opinions at the CFTC, NFA and with exchanges and FCMs, they are: Lowering of NFA dues from $1,000 per year to $750 for IBs and CTAs. Requiring registration for offerers of hedge-to-arrive contracts. Opposing the merger of CFTC and....
NIBA Celebrates 25th Anniversary
This year marks the 25th Year the NIBA has been serving the futures industry. There have been plenty of good and bad times within the industry over the last quarter of a century but one thing remains the same, the NIBA has been here at your side trying to fight the good fight. NIBA has elected to make some changes moving into the next 25 years of the association. A facelift has been given to our logo and association tag line. Please visit www.theniba.com to have a look at the new logo and tag line. The NIBA has been known....
NIBA 2016 Calendar
Please find a complete listing of NIBA events, meetings and general happenings for the new year below: January 2016 2016 Membership Campaign Opens January 19th Last day for NFA Election Ballots to be Received January 19th NIBA Executive Board of Directors Meeting (Chicago) February 25th FCM/Service Provider Member Appreciation Reception (Chicago) March 16th NIBA Executive Board of Directors Meeting April 20th NIBA Board of Directors Meeting (NYC) April 20th NIBA Membership Meeting, New York Athletic Club (NYC) May 19th NIBA Membership Committee Meeting June 14th NIBA Executive Board of Directors Meeting (Chicago) July 13th NIBA Board of Directors Meeting (Chicago) ....
Why you should get involved in managed futures
Happy New Year everyone! With the holidays behind us, I thought this would be a good opportunity to look at new business opportunities for the upcoming year. I work almost exclusively in the managed futures space. In speaking with brokers, I have found that they tend to be segregated into those who work primarily in transactional business, retail brokerage and hedging, and those who focus on managed futures accounts. Many transactional brokers know that commodity trading advisors (CTA’s) are out there, but they don’t know how they can become involved in that side of the business. The first question one....
Advantages of a traditional portfolio allocating to a volatility index
For decades, investors frequently perceived a traditional portfolio allocation in the range of 60 percent equities and 40 percent bonds for proper diversification. Since 2000 investors, both large and small, have experienced several moments of negative returns to their portfolios. This experience has enlightened many investors to seek wider portfolio diversification in attempts to reduce their correlation risk, tail risk and negative volatility. As investors search for greater diversification, it begs the question, is there an added value to allocate some portion of a traditional portfolio to a volatility index, such as VSTOXX® Futures? Investors often view each component of....
NIBA Special Edition: NFA Elections 2016
Most of us have received our ballots for the upcoming NFA elections. NIBA is excited and looking forward to working with Paul Georgy and Mike Burke as the representatives for GIBs and IIBs on the NFA Board of Directors. They have both shown a deep understanding of the IB community and its needs. Paul and Mike are respected by both the IBs they represent and the regulators, and will continue to be effective voices for our opinions. NIBA has been asked to endorse all four candidates running in the contested races for CTA/CPO positions. There are currently 18 members of....
Michael T. Burke, CEO HighGround Trading LLC NFA Board of Directors IIB Representative, President NIBA
It has been my great pleasure for the last year to serve as your NFA Board of Directors IIB Representative. I appreciate your continued support and it is my honor to be allowed to serve a second one year term in this position in addition to serving my first term as President of the NIBA. I am pleased to report that during my first term on the NFA Board my suggestion to NFA staff to offer electronic voting to NFA members in NFA elections has been approved by the NFA Board and will come to fruition. While on the face....