On June 5, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an order authorizing CBOE Clear Digital, LLC (“CBOE Clear”), a registered derivatives clearing organization (DCO), to clear margined digital asset futures contracts. Concurrent with the June 5th order, CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero issued a supporting statement in respect of the order. This blog post provides an overview of the terms and conditions of the CFTC’s June 5th order, particularly in light of certain of Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s comments, following a brief outline of the administrative history related to CBOE Clear’s digital asset product line-up.
Short-Term Cash Management Alternatives
In response to recent client questions regarding the various considerations and options for holding short-term funds, we have prepared a reference chart comparing certain key characteristics of demand deposits with government securities, money market funds, and other short-term cash management instruments. Please note that this information is not provided as investment advice.
Please contact your
OFR Identifies Five Risk Areas That Financial Regulators Should Watch in 2023
Today, senior financial analysts from the Office of Financial Research (OFR) published a blog post, Five Risk Areas That Financial Regulators Should Watch in 2023.
Continue Reading OFR Identifies Five Risk Areas That Financial Regulators Should Watch in 2023
Attention CPOs and CTAs: NFA Proposes New Compliance Rule for Members Engaged in Activities Involving Digital Asset Commodities
On February 28, 2023, the National Futures Association (NFA) submitted the proposed adoption of NFA Compliance Rule 2-51 to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The new compliance rule will apply to NFA members, including commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs), engaged in activities involving digital asset commodities. For purposes of the
February Update: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, 6 more months of a FINRA Rule 4210 Deferral
According to Newsweek, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2, 2023, signaling 6 more weeks of winter. And, on February 24, 2023, the Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (FINRA) submitted a filing to the SEC that, in effect, will defer implementation of revisions to FINRA Rule 4210 mandating so-called “TBA margining” (technically, margin requirements
Market Declines and Derivatives Trading Documentation: A Redux
In March 2020, we published a post entitled Master Agreements and Volatile Markets: Decline in Net Asset Value Provisions.
We believe that the March 2020 post is particularly relevant in light of the cascading nature of stock market declines over the past year, and on-going market commentary and debates about the likelihood and extent
Rule 18f-4 Wrap-Up
This post will bring to a close, for now, our survey of the requirements of new Rule 18f-4, which investment companies must comply with by August 19, 2022. This post considers whether a Chief Compliance or Risk Officer should seek to treat some or all of their funds as Limited Derivatives Users and
Compliance with Rule 18f-4 by a Fund-of-Funds
The release adopting Rule 18f-4 (the “Adopting Release”) devotes an entire section to discussing how “a fund that invests in other registered investment companies (‘underlying funds’)” should comply with the value-at-risk (“VaR”) requirements of the rule. This post considers three circumstances in which a fund investing in underlying funds:
- Does not invest in any derivatives
Compliance with Rule 18f-4 by a Sub-Advised Fund
As with Fund-of-Funds, the release adopting Rule 18f-4 (the “Adopting Release”) devotes a section to sub-advised funds. We again consider three types of funds:
- VaR Funds in which a sub-adviser manages their entire portfolio (“Single Sub-Adviser Funds”);
- VaR Funds in which one or more sub-advisers manage a portion or “sleeve” of their portfolio (“Sleeve
Assessing the Limited Derivatives User Requirements of Rule 18f-4—Notional Amounts
This post continues our assessment of whether the Limited Derivatives User requirements of Rule 18f-4(c)(4) effectively and efficiently accomplish the SEC’s aim of providing “an objective standard to identify funds that use derivatives in a limited manner.” Here we question whether the “gross notional amount” of a derivatives transaction measures the