Hong Kong regulators recently brought criminal enforcement actions against virtual asset trading platform JPEX and individuals associated with the platform. This case has become the first opportunity for local authorities to...more
On March 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the U.S. derivatives regulator, charged three Binance entities (collectively “Binance”) and its founder and chief compliance officer (“CCO”) with numerous...more
Europcar Drives CDS Down a Familiar Path - When Europcar defaulted on its debt, buyers of approximately $100 million of credit default swap (CDS) protection expected significant payouts due to the anticipated low recovery on...more
On Friday March 12, Bloomberg News reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has opened an inquiry into Binance Holdings Ltd. (“Binance”) to investigate allegations that the exchange allowed US citizens...more
It is official. Finally. On October 10, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman Heath Tarbert announced that he believes ether is a commodity and thus falls under the jurisdiction of the CFTC....more
There is no silver bullet for maintaining cross-border trading if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The date of Brexit has been delayed until (at least) October 31, 2019, but there is little sign that financial...more
Following the Ministry of Economy and Finance press release of 24 January 2019, last night the Italian Government approved the law decree aimed at ensuring financial stability and market integrity in the event of hard Brexit...more
BROKER-DEALER - Nasdaq Has Proposed a New Rule Change To Modify Its System of Volume-Based Credits - The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a proposed rule change to...more
Both U.S. and European Union (EU) law require that certain swaps and derivatives trades take place only on approved trading platforms. On October 13, 2017, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) Chairman J....more
On Jan. 3, 2018, the long-anticipated overhaul of European Union (EU) financial markets legislation will come into effect. The second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) will broaden the scope of EU...more
RBS has agreed to pay $85 million to the CFTC to resolve allegations that its traders “manipulated the ISDAfix benchmark rate over a period of five years to benefit the bank’s derivatives positions”....more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an amendment to the Regulation AT framework it originally proposed in December 2015 for automated trading on U.S. derivatives exchanges. Addressing the issues raised in the...more
Financial Industry Developments - The CFPB Publishes Final Rule for Prepaid Accounts - On October 5, 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the "CFPB") finalized comprehensive consumer protections for...more
The government’s pursuit of alleged “spoofing” continues to garner headlines with the criminal authorities recently securing a conviction in the prosecution of Michael Coscia for alleged spoofing on the Chicago Mercantile...more
Novo Banco and CDS – A Post-Mortem - The 2014 ISDA Credit Derivatives Definitions updated the previous set of credit derivatives definitions to, among other things, include a credit event for “Governmental Intervention.”...more
The SEC published a report that provides private fund industry statistics and trends, reflecting aggregated data reported by private fund advisers on Form ADV and Form PF. Most of the data in the more than 50 separate tables...more
The SEC recently published two rule proposals to address concerns over the Commission’s ability to gauge and monitor any risks that the asset management industry poses to the financial system and investors. This includes the...more
On September 17, 2015, the IRS and the Treasury Department issued final, temporary, and proposed regulations under section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (collectively, the “new regulations”) that provide the rules for...more