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....
Too Important to Fail–Another Look
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....
Arditti Center announces Dennis Chookaszian, former CEO of CNA Insurance as keynote speaker for June Risk Leadership Program
This June, DePaul University’s Arditti Center for Risk Management is hosting a two-day executive risk leadership program led by Dr. Mark Frigo, Director of the Center for Strategy, Execution and Valuation, and Director of the Strategic Risk Management Lab in the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business; and Steve Lindo, an industry expert and educator with more than 20 years of risk management practice in the U.S. and internationally. The program—offered with both one and two day options—will be held Friday, June 13, 8:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, June 14, 2014, 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. DePaul recently held....
Legacy Swaps Brokers and Regulatory Outtrades
Traditionally, counterparties executing swaps transactions in the unregulated Over-The-Counter (“OTC”) marketplace maintained entire teams of staff devoted to the credit or delivery risk of a counter-party. Inclusive in this regime was the preeminent notion that brokers never held client funds of any kind. This key discrepancy may cause various regulatory outtrades between regulators and parties in the Introducing Broker regime, most notably the legacy swap broker and the traditional Introducing Broker (“IB”). With the move to central counter-party clearing, it is likely that legacy swaps firms will see a cost-shift to that of compliance. The rules promulgated in response to....
R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO)| NIBA Member Spotlight
Firm Name: R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO) Founded: 1914 – Celebrating firm’s Centennial this year Number of Brokers: Approximately 400 IBs in the RJO network – the largest IB network in the industry NIBA Member Since: 2013 Web: www.rjobrien.com About the Firm: How did you get started? Do you provide additional services besides brokerage? RJO had humble beginnings as a butter and egg merchant. Founded as John V. McCarthy & Company on Oct. 17, 1914, John McCarthy started the company pushing butter on a cart. An immigrant of Ireland, he was the first in his family to attend high school. In....
CTA Spotlight: Boston & Zechiel Management
Trading is difficult. If it was easy, everyone would do it. To excel at trading is even that much harder. Successfully competing against some of societies’ smartest and most ambitious requires employing a trading strategy that gives one an edge. Without it, one can only hope for mediocrity. Boston & Zechiel Management has two trading programs that aim for that edge in order to differentiate ourselves from the other successful trading programs in the managed future space. We view the equity markets through the rhythm of cycles, similar to that of the ocean tides. Both have repeatable and predictable patterns.....
Questions for the NFA? Comments for NFA? No problem just call the NIBA!
The NIBA is now offering a premium service for its members and will be acting as a liaison between the association’s membership and the NFA. Do you have something you want to bring to the NFA but are hesitant to do so directly, let the NIBA do it for you. The NIBA is your advocate in the industry. We encourage all members to bring their issues to us. In turn, we will address each and every concern anonymously with the NFA. We have found all registrants periodically have questions on business practices, compliance, registrations, etc on which they....
NYC Meeting a Success!
Thanks to everyone who helped make the May 1 event in New York City a success. We hit a new attendance high for our NYC meetings – 135 IBs, CTAs, and FCMs. Thank you to our first panel speakers: Al Helmig, Jim Steel, Fred Penha, and Howard Hopkins. Their review and outlook for the energy and metal markets was comprehensive – they are all experts in the field. Thank you to our second panel speakers: Susan Osmanski, Brian Clark and John Brand. They presented a very complete update on where swaps registrants stand with regard to compliance with current rules....
Chairman’s Letter
Dear Members – The NIBA submitted our comment letter to the NFA regarding its capital requirement proposal for CTAs and CPOs and other changes to the CTA registration status. We are firmly opposed to capital requirements for CTAs and to the elimination of registration status for the group of current CTAs which NFA refers to as “inactive.” NIBA believes CPO criteria may be quite different than that for CTAs, and should be considered separately. The full text of our submission is found in this newsletter. We understand the NFA is considering all the submissions — we hear there were many.....
Get to Know the Regulators
Information is essential to participants in our markets. Our markets are ever changing not only with price action but also with best practices and regulations. NIBA wants to make sure our members know their way around both the NFA and CFTC and as such will be publishing an ongoing series discussing who is who and how you can get a hold of key regulators and/or information if you ever need to. As the designated self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry, National Futures Association (NFA) recognizes that its members, CFTC registrants, industry professionals and the general public may have questions....