News Centre

CFTC Charges New Mexico Resident With Fraud In Long-Running Ponzi Scheme

Date 10/12/2019

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced it has filed a civil enforcement action in the District of New Mexico against defendant Douglas Lien (d/b/a Westend Investments) of Santa Fe, New Mexico, charging him with fraud and failing to register with the CFTC.

Tradeweb 2019 Year In Review – The Most Important Milestones In Fixed Income

Date 10/12/2019

Fixed Income Markets Weather the Storm

With sweeping regulatory reforms and plunging interest rates, this decade brought massive challenges to fixed income market participants. The marketplace responded with wide-reaching developments in financial services technology, and an explosion in multi-asset trading.  The journey was rarely linear, but trading volumes set new records across markets virtually each year.  

Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz On Final Rule To Amend The Rulemaking Procedures In Part 13 Of The Commission’s Regulations

Date 10/12/2019

I support the final rule to eliminate the obsolete provisions in part 13 of the Commission’s regulations that specify procedures for Commission rulemakings.  Part 13, adopted by the Commission more than 40 years ago, does not conform fully to the rulemaking procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and followed today by the Commission. The repeal of these procedures will avoid potential confusion regarding the Commission’s rulemaking process.

Justin Sok Joins SIFMA Advocacy Team

Date 10/12/2019

SIFMA today announced Justin Sok joined the Association’s Federal Advocacy team.

Dissenting Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz - “Proposed Rule” And “Request For Additional Comment” On Capital Requirements Of Swap Dealers And Major Swap Participants

Date 10/12/2019

I dissent from the document that is called a “Proposed Rule” on the Capital Requirements of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants (the “Document”).  My objections are both procedural and substantive.  Procedurally, the Document asks many open ended questions, is vague about what is being proposed, and lacks sufficient supporting data to serve as the basis for a final rule under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). The Document as structured is not a proposal that can lead to a final rule; rather it appears to be more in the nature of an advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

NYSE Group Consolidated Short Interest Report

Date 10/12/2019

NYSE today reported short interest as of the close of business on the settlement date of November 29, 2019.

Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz: Transparency And Accountability In Government

Date 10/12/2019

I strongly support the Chairman’s announcement that he will not put before the Commission for a vote any settlement agreement or other resolution of an enforcement matter that constrains the Commission, individual Commissioners, or Commission staff from making public statements about that matter.

Nasdaq Announces End-Of-Month Open Short Interest Positions In Nasdaq Stocks As Of Settlement Date November 29, 2019

Date 10/12/2019

At the end of the settlement date of November 29, 2019, short interest in 2,391 Nasdaq Global Market^SM securities totaled 8,205,473,934 shares compared with 8,223,360,638 shares in 2,391 Global Market issues reported for the prior settlement date of November 15, 2019. The end-of-November short interest represents 4.49 days average daily Nasdaq Global Market share volume for the reporting period, compared with 4.45 days for the prior reporting period.

Statement Of CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert Before The December 10, 2019 Open Meeting - Tripling Down On Transparency

Date 10/12/2019

As regulators, we must be mindful not only of what we do, but how we do it.  Our shared vision for the CFTC is to be the global standard for sound derivatives regulation.[1]  Soundness is built on transparency: we serve our markets best when we act with the benefit of public input and dialogue.  We also owe it to those who rely on our derivatives markets to regulate in the open.  With this in mind, our agency recently adopted Clarity—which we describe as “[p]roviding transparency to market participants about our rules and processes”—as one of the four core values of the CFTC.[2] 

SIFMA Statement On The Consolidated Audit Trail

Date 10/12/2019

SIFMA today released the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA President and CEO, on the Consolidated Audit Trail:

“SIFMA remains very concerned about investor data security of the CAT. SIFMA and its members are supportive of the CAT and its regulatory intent but have repeatedly expressed strong concerns regarding the risks to our customers’ sensitive financial data information, including the wholesale collection of personally identifiable information (PII) and transaction data being compiled in one place. This risk is further compounded by a lack of liability coverage for the broker dealers who are obligated to report to the CAT. Allowing twenty-four self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”) to have the ability to bulk download and store all such data, including transactions and customer data, on their own systems, dramatically increases exposure to data breach and theft. As SEC Chairman Clayton rightly noted at a Senate Banking hearing today, data security must be a paramount concern with a database this large. Allowing up to 3,000 users at twenty-four different SROs to hold the data internally with personnel having unfettered access makes absolutely no sense. SIFMA believes that all surveillance and analysis on CAT data should occur within a highly controlled, limited access secure analytics environment within the FINRA CAT Processor and only the SEC and FINRA should have access to the full database. The SROs should only access their own transaction data and should not have access to the customer database. We urge the SEC to address these concerns immediately.”