The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has just announced a record-setting whistleblower award of nearly $200 million but it was quickly followed by a report in The Wall Street Journal that identified the tipster as someone from Deutsche Bank. The CFTC protects all whistleblowers via confidentiality. In a press release dated Oct. 21, CFTC officials acknowledged… Read More >>
CFTC Focuses on SOFR for Interdealer Brokers
Just in case you were wondering, the CFTC is doing its part for interdealer brokers transitioning from the ill-fated Libor reference rate to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) for U.S. Dollar (USD) non-linear derivatives, which are instruments whose rewards are not set in stone like swaps, futures, and forwards. In fact, the regulator has… Read More >>
CFTC Fines Citi in Second Swaps Reporting Case
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission has settled charges against Citibank, N.A. and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. — two provisionally registered swap dealers, aka Citi — for allegedly “failing to comply with certain swap dealer requirements,” and for related charges of supervision failures. Specifically, the CFTC charged that those two Citi units did not… Read More >>
Trading Glitch Spurs CFTC Fine for Interactive Brokers
An electronic trading system that was not ready to receive negative crude oil futures prices and to calculate margin upon them serves as the basis for the CFTC’s recently settled case against Interactive Brokers in its role as a registered futures commission merchant (FCM). The CFTC is alleging that Interactive Brokers failed to prepare its… Read More >>
CFTC Cracks Down on Swaps Data Noncompliance
The CFTC is cracking down on the alleged failures of supervisory systems and other controls that swap dealers and other swap industry participants have set up to be compliant. In particular, the regulator has just announced enforcement actions against Société Générale S.A., Mizuho Capital Markets, and the Refinitiv SEF, among others. “Swap dealer registrants must… Read More >>
Northern Trust Uses Algorithms to Find Initial Margin
Northern Trust Develops Offering with Acadia With help from vendor Acadia, Northern Trust launched an automated solution for initial margin (IM) calculation that exploits algorithms to find assets that will help firms meet regulatory obligations, officials say. The solution was developed to help clients meet the September 1 deadline for compliance with the Uncleared Margin… Read More >>
CME-IHS Joint Venture Targets OTC Ops Woes
Following an announcement this past January, CME Group and IHS Markit have formally launched a joint venture, dubbed OSTTRA, that will encompass offerings intended to ease the post-trade operational challenges of over-the-counter (OTC) transaction processing for interest rate, foreign exchange (FX), equity, and credit asset classes. CME Group and IHS Markit each own half of… Read More >>
EC Blesses IHS Markit-CME Joint Venture
Proposed J.V. Seen as Complementary CME Group, an operator of derivatives trading venues, and IHS Markit, an information and analytics vendor, have gotten the blessings of the European Commission for their joint venture of post-trade services. “The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control over a newly created… Read More >>
DTCC Repository Fined for Alleged Data Breaches
The London-based DTCC Derivatives Repository Plc (DDRL), a suite of post-trade, record-keeping, and reporting services, has been fined by E.U. regulator European Securities and Markets Authority for seven alleged infringements of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation legislation governing data confidentiality, data integrity, and direct and immediate data access. The total fine is €408,000, or approximately… Read More >>
Credit Suisse & CFTC Settle Swap Data Reporting Case
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has ordered Credit Suisse International, Credit Suisse Securities Europe Limited, and Credit Suisse Capital LLC — three Credit Suisse entities that are provisionally registered swap dealers — to pay $1.5 million for “failing to comply with swap data reporting obligations.” In addition to the financial penalty, the three Credit Suisse… Read More >>
