New DOL Rule Enables Consideration of ESG Factors in Investing, Plus the SEC Continues its ESG Enforcement Push in the Absence of Final SEC Rules -
On November 22, the US Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule...more
12/14/2022
/ Block Trades ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Personal Data ,
Private Investment Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
With some frequency, Katten attorneys field questions from clients about exchange rules on off-exchange execution of futures and options on futures. This Advisory provides a high-level overview on this topic in connection...more
COVID-19 fallout continued to dominate the financial services industry during the past few weeks, prompting ongoing adherence to business continuity and other contingency plans by market participants and new relief by...more
Last week, a senior official of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities and that there might be circumstances when a utility token is also not a security. The same official and...more
CFTC Names Four Banking Organization Companies, a Trading Software Design Company and Six Individuals in Spoofing-Related Cases; the Same Six Individuals Criminally Charged Plus Two More: On January 29, the Commodity Futures...more
First Cash-Settled Bitcoin Futures Contract Begins Trading on CFTC-Overseen Exchange; Industry Organization Bemoans Self-Certification Process: The CBOE Futures Exchange commenced trading of Bitcoin Futures last night –...more
FCM Agrees to Pay US $2.5 Million CFTC Fine for Relying on Affiliate’s Purportedly Misleading Analysis of Block Trades for a CME Group Investigation: Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated agreed to pay a fine of...more
CFTC Inspector General Strongly Criticizes Cost-Benefit Analysis Underlying Commission’s Rule Establishing Margin for Uncleared Swaps: The Office of Inspector General of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that the...more
ICE Futures U.S. Settles Disciplinary Actions Against Three Respondents For Alleged Block Trade Violations For US $325,000 Combined Fine -
ICE Futures U.S. settled two related disciplinary actions against three persons for...more
Federal District Court Approves Flash Crash Spoofer’s US $38 Million Settlement; Federal Appeals Court Appears Sympathetic to Michael Coscia’s Claim That Spoofing Prohibition Is Too Vague -
The US federal court handling...more
11/22/2016
/ Asset Management ,
Audits ,
Block Trades ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
China ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
FRB ,
Futures ,
Government Officials ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Illegal Trading ,
Mary Jo White ,
Resignation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Spoofing ,
Stress Tests ,
UK
Alleged Flash Crash Spoofer Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges and Agrees to Resolve CFTC Civil Complaint by Paying Over $38.6 Million in Penalties: Navinder Singh Sarao pleaded guilty last Wednesday in a US federal court in...more
Non-Member Tipper and Tippee Fined by CME Group for Insider-Trading Type Offenses; Two Member Firms Fined for Algo System Gone Wild -
Two apparently related non-members of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange agreed to be...more
CME Group Settles With Trading Firm for Spoofing-Type Offenses, Holding It Strictly Liable for Acts of Agents; Orders Disgorgement of Profits -
CME Group brought and settled disciplinary actions against Geneva Trading...more
Advantage Futures LLC, Joseph Guinan, its majority owner and chief executive officer, and William Steele, who until May 2016 was Advantage’s chief risk officer, settled charges brought by the Commodity Futures Trading...more
Broker-Dealer Sanctioned US $415 Million by SEC for Violating Customer Protection Requirements:
Two Merrill Lynch entities agreed to pay sanctions of US $415 million to resolve charges brought by the Securities and...more
6/28/2016
/ Algorithmic Trading ,
Bank of America ,
Block Trades ,
CFTC ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Customer Protection Rule ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Form PQR ,
Hackers ,
Market Manipulation ,
Merrill Lynch ,
Regulation AT ,
Subpoenas ,
UK Brexit ,
Wash Sale Rules
SEC Overturns CBOE Determination That Individual Traders of Two Omnibus Accounts Were Customers Requiring Application of Customer Identification Rule -
The Securities and Exchange Commission set aside a determination by...more
6/20/2016
/ Block Trades ,
CBOE ,
CIP ,
Compliance ,
Confidential Information ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hedge Funds ,
Insider Trading ,
Public Comment ,
Spoofing
CFTC Hosts Regulation AT Roundtable; Chairman Implies Risk Rules Sufficient for 2016:
Staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sponsored a roundtable on proposed Regulation Automated Trading last Friday. The...more
6/13/2016
/ Algorithmic Trading ,
Block Trades ,
EFRP ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Expungement ,
MiFID II ,
Oppenheimer & Co. ,
Registration Requirement ,
Regulation AT ,
SWIFT ,
UBS
Overseas Entities: Count US-Arranged Security-Based Swaps in Security-Based Swap Dealer Calculation Says SEC: The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted final rules that will require non-US persons to include in a...more
FINRA Will Grade Members on Culture, Supervision and Liquidity Management; BDs Not Managing Spoofing Likely to Get Bad Scores:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority kicked off the new year by issuing its annual...more
1/12/2016
/ Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Banking Sector ,
Block Trades ,
Bonuses ,
BSA/AML ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hedge Funds ,
Indictments ,
National Futures Association ,
Spoofing
CFTC Says Virtual Currencies Are a “Commodity” Under Federal Law, Files Charges Against Coinflip for Operating an Unregistered Bitcoin Options Trading Platform -
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed and...more
9/22/2015
/ Algorithmic Trading ,
Australia ,
Basel III ,
Bitcoin ,
Block Trades ,
C-Suite Executives ,
Canada ,
Cease and Desist Orders ,
CEOs ,
CFTC ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Commodities ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cybersecurity ,
Derivatives ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Industry Examinations ,
Layering ,
Liquidity Risk Management Rule ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sanctions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SEFs ,
Spoofing ,
Swap Dealers
Charles Schwab Fined US $2 Million by FINRA for Net Capital Deficiencies: Charles Schwab & Co. agreed to pay US $2 million to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to resolve allegations that it had net capital...more
9/1/2015
/ Administrative Hearings ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Appeals ,
Barclays ,
Block Trades ,
BNP Paribas ,
Capital Requirements ,
CFTC ,
Charles Schwab ,
Corporate Fines ,
Dark Pool ,
Dealers ,
Derivatives ,
Dismissals ,
EU ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Flash Boys ,
High Frequency Trading ,
Investment Adviser ,
Liquidation ,
National Futures Association ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Sanctions ,
SAR ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stress Tests ,
UBS
CME Group Files Disciplinary Actions for Trading Ahead of Block Trades and Failure to Supervise an Employee Engaging in Disruptive Trading Activities -
In two cases of first impression, CME Group exchanges brought and...more
8/25/2015
/ Audits ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Block Trades ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CFTC ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
CME NYMEX ,
Disruptive Trading Practices ,
DMO ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Internships ,
Investment Adviser ,
Material Nonpublic Information ,
NYDFS ,
OIG ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Clearing ,
Swaps
CME Group Reminds Members of Regulatory Requirements for EFRPs and Block Trades Through Disciplinary Actions: The CME Group brought and resolved multiple disciplinary actions against various members and non-members related to...more
2/24/2015
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Block Trades ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Compliance ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
EFRP ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Insider Trading ,
MiFID II ,
Red Flags Rule ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
Swiss Franc-Euro Decoupling Spurs Worldwide Legal and Regulatory Fallout -
Following the unexpected decoupling by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) of the Swiss franc-Euro exchange rate on January 15; the subsequent...more
CFTC Proposes Margin Rules for Uncleared Swaps and Approves Special Treatment for Operations-Related Swaps With Certain Government-Owned Natural Gas and Electric Utilities -
A few weeks after the Federal Reserve Bank...more
9/24/2014
/ Block Trades ,
CFTC ,
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) ,
Commodity Futures Contracts ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Derivatives ,
Electricity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Reserve ,
High Frequency Trading ,
IOSCO ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Margin Requirements ,
Natural Gas ,
Price Manipulation ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Short Sales ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Utilities Sector