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CFTC’s Division Of Market Oversight Issues Time-Limited No-Action Relief From Certain Requirements Of Part 45 And Part 46 Of The Commission’s Regulations, For Certain Swap Dealers And Major Swap Participants Established Under The Laws Of Australia, Canada, The European Union, Japan Or Switzerland

Date 20/12/2013

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (Commission) Division of Market Oversight (Division) issued a letter today providing time-limited relief to Commission-registered swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs) that are non-U.S. persons (non-U.S. SDs and non-U.S. MSPs, respectively) established under the laws of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan or Switzerland, and that are not part of an affiliated group in which the ultimate parent entity is a U.S. SD, U.S. MSP, U.S. bank, U.S. financial holding company or U.S. bank holding company, from certain requirements of the swap data reporting rules set forth at Part 45 and Part 46 of the Commission’s regulations.

Facebook Announces Pricing Of Follow-On Offering

Date 20/12/2013

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) today announced the pricing of its underwritten registered public offering of 70,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $55.05 per share. A total of 27,004,761 shares are being offered by Facebook, and a total of 42,995,239 shares are being offered by certain selling stockholders, including 41,350,000 shares offered by Mark Zuckerberg. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on December 26, 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

BATS 1000 Index Jumps 2.5% This Week

Date 20/12/2013

BATS Global Markets, a leading operator of securities markets in the U.S. and Europe, reports the BATS 1000® Index (Ticker: BATSK) jumped 508.04 points this week to close at 20,494.37 as of the 4 p.m. ET market close today.  

Statement Of Dissent By CFTC Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia - Comparability Determinations For Australia, Canada, The European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, And Switzerland: Certain Entity And Transaction-Level Requirements

Date 20/12/2013

I respectfully dissent from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“Commission”) approval of the Notices of Comparability Determinations for Certain Requirements under the laws of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, and Switzerland (collectively, “Notices”). While I support the narrow comparability determinations that the Commission has made, moving forward, the Commission must collaborate with foreign regulators to harmonize our respective regimes consistent with the G-20 reforms.

S&P Dow Jones Indices Announces Changes To The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices - Deletions From The S&P/TSX Preferred Share Indices

Date 20/12/2013

S&P Dow Jones Canadian Index Services will make the following changes in the S&P/TSX Canadian Indices:

Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services Inc. (TSX:IAG) has announced its intention to redeem for $CDN 25.00 cash per share all of the outstanding shares of its 6.20% Non- Cumulative 5-Year Rate Reset Class A Preferred Shares, Series ‘C’ (TSX:IAG.PR.C). The shares of this issue will be removed from the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Laddered Index after the close of trading on Tuesday, December 31, 2013.

CFTC Approves Comparability Determinations For Six Jurisdictions For Substituted Compliance Purposes - Australia, Canada, The European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, And Switzerland Are Deemed Comparable With Respect To Certain Swaps Provisions Of The Dodd-Frank Act

Date 20/12/2013

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) today approved a series of broad comparability determinations that would permit substituted compliance with non-U.S. regulatory regimes as compared to certain swaps provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) and the Commission’s regulations. Substituted compliance describes the circumstances where the Commission’s general policy would be to permit non-U.S. swap dealers or non-U.S. MSPs whose swaps activities might bring them within the scope of certain Commission regulations, to use compliance with regulations in their home jurisdiction as a substitute for compliance with the relevant Commission regulations. This approach builds on the Commission’s long-standing policy of recognizing comparable regulatory regimes based on international coordination and comity principles with respect to cross-border activities involving futures and options.

Joint Statement Of CFTC Chairman Gensler And Commissioners Chilton And Wetjen

Date 20/12/2013

We support the Commission’s approval of broad comparability determinations that will be used for substituted compliance purposes. For each of the six jurisdictions that has registered swap dealers, we carefully reviewed each regulatory provision of the foreign jurisdictions submitted to us and compared the provision’s intended outcome to the Commission’s own regulatory objectives. The resulting comparability determinations for entity-level requirements permit non-U.S. swap dealers to comply with regulations in their home jurisdiction as a substitute for compliance with the relevant Commission regulations.

IMF Completes Second Review Under Extended Fund Facility Arrangement For Cyprus And Approves €83.5 Million Disbursement

Date 20/12/2013

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the second review of Cyprus’s performance under an economic program supported by a three-year, SDR 891 million (about €1 billion, or US$1.4 billion) Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. The completion of this review enables the disbursement of SDR 74.2 million (about €83.5 million, or US$114 million), which would bring total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 222.7 million (about €250.4 million, or US$341.9 million). The Executive Board also approved the authorities’ request for modification of performance criteria on end-December 2013 fiscal targets.

SEC Charges Archer-Daniels-Midland Company With FCPA Violations

Date 20/12/2013

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged global food processor Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) for failing to prevent illicit payments made by foreign subsidiaries to Ukrainian government officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

CFTC Approves Limited-Purpose Swap Dealer Designation For State Street Bank And Trust Company

Date 20/12/2013

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) today approved an Order granting a limited purpose swap dealer (SD) designation to State Street Bank and Trust Company (SSBT) with respect to its activities in foreign exchange products that are swaps (FX Products), marking the second time that a limited-purpose SD designation order has been granted.