News Centre

FINRA Orders Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. To Pay $15.2 Million In Restitution

Date 02/06/2022

FINRA announced today that it has ordered Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. to pay more than $15.2 million in restitution and interest to thousands of customers who purchased Class C mutual fund shares when Class A shares were available at substantially lower costs.

Investor Alert: New York Attorney General James Warns New Yorkers About Cryptocurrency Investment Risks - Investors Lost Hundreds Of Billions In Cryptocurrency

Date 02/06/2022

New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued an alert to New Yorkers to remind them of the dangerous risks of investing in cryptocurrencies after the market reached record lows last month and investors lost hundreds of billions. Cryptocurrencies are subject to extreme and unpredictably high price swings that make them among the most high-risk investments on the market. Last month, some of those risks materialized as the price of multiple virtual currencies — from the newest coins to the most well-established coins — plunged deeply and wiped away hundreds of billions in investments. This is not the first time the market has plunged. To protect New Yorkers from this extreme volatility, Attorney General James offers New Yorkers guidance on the various risks associated with cryptocurrencies.

ISDA - Voluntary Carbon Markets: Analysis Of Regulatory Oversight In The US

Date 02/06/2022

Voluntary carbon markets are widely considered to have an important role to play in achieving greenhouse gas emissions goals. Market demand from entities and individuals purchasing carbon credits that are created through investments in nature-based or technology-based projects have fueled growth of the sector, with demand projected to increase by a factor of 15 or more by 2030 and a factor of 100 by 2050.

Nodal Exchange Achieves May Records In Power (83% Growth), Natural Gas (35x Growth) And Environmental Futures (230% Growth)

Date 02/06/2022

Nodal Exchange today announced new calendar month records for May in power, natural gas and environmental futures.  In power, Nodal set a calendar month record for May with traded power futures volume of 220 million MWh, up 83% from 120 million MWh in May 2021.  The majority of U.S. power futures open interest is on Nodal Exchange with 1.210 billion MWh representing $180 Billion of notional value based on both sides as of the end of May 2022.

Readout: US Secretary Of The Treasury Janet L. Yellen’s Meeting With Irish Finance Minister And Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe

Date 02/06/2022

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen met today with Irish Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe. Secretary Yellen welcomed the European Union’s strong partnership in holding Russia accountable for its illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine and noted appreciation for the Irish government’s commitment to sanctions implementation. The Secretary also welcomed the European Union’s Marco-Financial Assistance package of up to EUR 9.5 billion for Ukraine. Minister Donohoe and Secretary Yellen also discussed the importance of continued progress on the OECD global tax reform agreement. Secretary Yellen underscored the United States’ strong commitment to the Good Friday

CFTC Charges Gemini Trust Company For Making Material False Or Misleading Statements And Omissions To The Commission

Date 02/06/2022

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini), based in New York, N.Y., for making false or misleading statements of material facts or omitting to state material facts to the CFTC in connection with the self-certification of a bitcoin futures product. The CFTC seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties, injunctions relating to registration and trading, and an injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), as charged.

Sterling Trading Tech Introduces Upcoming Enhancements To Its Order Management System - OMS Enhancements Include Increased Scalability And Throughput, A New Rules Engine, And Support For Trading Of Fractional Shares

Date 02/06/2022

Sterling Trading Tech (STT), a leader in multi-asset class technology solutions for the capital markets, today announced enhanced functionality for its order management system (OMS). With advanced features that include a risk-based rules engine and the ability to trade fractional shares, the system offers broker-dealers and their traders unprecedented power and flexibility. Designed for high-throughput specifications, the upgrades place the Sterling OMS among the fastest and most robust OMS solutions on the market today.

SEC Charges Louisiana Town And Former Mayor With Fraud In Two Municipal Bond Deals - Town’s Municipal Advisor And Its Owner Also Charged

Date 02/06/2022

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the town of Sterlington, Louisiana and its former mayor, Vern A. Breland, as well as the town’s unregistered municipal advisor, Twin Spires Financial LLC, and its owner, Aaron B. Fletcher, with misleading investors in the sale of $5.8 million in municipal bonds across two offerings in 2017 and 2018.

ACER Initiates The Drafting Of New Framework Guidelines On Demand Response

Date 02/06/2022

On 1st June 2022, the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) has been asked by the European Commission to submit non-binding framework guidelines setting out clear and objective principles for the development of a network code on demand response. The network code will aim at enabling market access for demand response, including load, storage and distributed generation (aggregated or not), as well at facilitating the market based procurement of services by distribution and transmission system operators.

Opening Statement of Chairman Rostin Behnam at the CFTC Voluntary Carbon Markets Convening, Washington, DC

Date 02/06/2022

Introduction

Good morning and welcome to the Voluntary Carbon Markets Convening.  I want to thank Commissioners Johnson, Goldsmith Romero, Mersinger, and Pham for joining today’s meeting.  I also want to thank and acknowledge the members of the Climate Risk Unit (CRU), our distinguished keynote speakers, moderators, and panelists.  Finally, I want to extend my gratitude to David Gillers, the CFTC’s Chief of Staff and CRU Director, Abigail Knauff, a Special Counsel in my office and CRU Deputy, and all of the CRU staff for their work in initiating this Convening.