Todd P. Zerega

Subscribe to Todd P. Zerega's Posts
Contact:Read more about Todd P. Zerega

In its November 25, 2019 Open Meeting, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) commissioners voted to approve final rules amending Part 4 of the CFTC rules addressing registration and compliance requirements for commodity pool operators (“CPOs”) and commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”). The CFTC proposed amendments to Part 4 in October 2018. The final rule will be effective thirty days after publication in the Federal Register.

This post summarizes select key amendments in the rule and what action must be taken by firms intending to take advantage of the new amendments, if any.Continue Reading CFTC Votes To Codify CPO/CTA Registration Relief at Open Meeting

Repo rates were steadier last week, as compared to the wild swings of the prior week,  as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR)—a broad measure of the overnight Treasury repo market—fluctuated between 1.82% and 2.01%. The week started with the SOFR rate at 1.85% on Monday, it then increased a bit on Tuesday and Wednesday to 1.96% and 2.01% respectively before falling back to 1.85% on Thursday and to 1.82% on Friday.
Continue Reading Repo Rates Steady Last Week Thanks to Fed Liquidity

Last week saw a wild ride for repo rates as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR)—a broad measure of the overnight Treasury repo market—fluctuated between 1.95% and 5.25%. The week started with the SOFR rate moving higher to a range of 2.43-4.60% on Monday which was a significantly higher range from the prior Friday (2.16-2.40%). Then on Tuesday SOFR spiked to 5.25% with a print in the 99% percent of the range of trades at 9.00%. The rate stabilized a bit on Wednesday falling to a range of 2.10-5.00% with a rate of 2.55%. Then following the Fed Reserves announcement on Wednesday of a 0.25% rate cut to the Fed Funds Rate, SOFR fell to 1.95% on Thursday and to 1.86% on Friday.
Continue Reading Wild Week for Repo Rates

On Monday, June 24, 2019, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, and U.K. Financial Conduct Authority Chief Executive Andrew Bailey issued a joint statement (“Joint Statement”) regarding collaboration to monitor the credit derivatives markets.  The Joint Statement states, in part, that:

The continued pursuit of various opportunistic strategies in the credit derivatives markets, including but not limited to those that have been referred to as “manufactured credit events,” may adversely affect the integrity, confidence and reputation of the credit derivatives markets, as well as markets more generally.  These opportunistic strategies raise various issues under securities, derivatives, conduct and antifraud laws, as well as public policy concerns.

The Joint Statement also notes that the agencies’ collaborative efforts would not preclude any of the agencies from taking independent actions under their respective authority.
Continue Reading U.S. and UK Regulators Make Joint Commitment to Combat “Manufactured Credit Events” in CDS Market

On May 23, 2019, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a Risk Alert to summarize frequent mistakes and effective practices by broker-dealers and investment advisers relating to the storage of clients’ data. In particular, OCIE warned that issues relating to cloud storage arose even when firms had cybersecurity measures for their data storage because firms did not utilize the available security features.
Continue Reading OCIE Issues Risk Alert on Data and Cloud Storage Practices

On May 3, 2019, the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”) proposed amendments (“Exposure Draft”) to two accounting standards in response to concerns raised by the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). Specifically, the Exposure Draft addresses International Financial Reporting Standard (“IFRS”) 9 Financial Instruments and International Accounting Standard (“IAS”) 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. The IASB is accepting comments on the Exposure Draft until June 17, 2019 and plans to issue final amendments later this year.
Continue Reading In Anticipation of LIBOR Transition, IASB Proposes Amendments To Hedge Accounting Standards

On December 21, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced enforcement actions against two robo-advisers, Wealthfront Advisors LLC (“Wealthfront”) and Hedgeable Inc. (“Hedgeable”), for making false statements about investment products and publishing misleading advertising. “Robo-advisers” are investment advisers that provide automated, software-based portfolio management services. In a press release related to these actions,…

On September 19, 2018, ISDA published the ISDA Benchmarks Supplement (the “Supplement”) to enable parties to include fall back provisions in their trades if a benchmark ceases to be provided by the administrator to the benchmark or if a regulator of the administrator, the applicable central bank or applicable resolution authority announces that the administrator shall cease to provide a benchmark  (an “index cessation event”). The Supplement covers the following ISDA definitions booklets:

  • 2006 ISDA Definitions;
  • 2002 ISDA Equity Derivatives Definitions;
  • 1998 FX and Currency Option Definitions;
  • 2005 ISDA Commodity Definitions.

The Supplement also introduces the concept of an “Administrator/Benchmark Event” which applies if a benchmark or an administrator is not approved and therefore cannot be used by the parties in accordance with applicable law.
Continue Reading LIBOR Benchmark Transition Planning: ISDA Benchmarks Supplement

On the heels of remarks by his U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) counterpart, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Chairman Jay Clayton recently commented on ongoing benchmark reform and the transition to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”).  As we noted earlier this week, Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo of the CFTC recently advocated for the adoption of SOFR as the appropriate replacement for LIBOR and added that the CFTC is already working on the transition.  He implored market participants and firms to immediately begin transacting in SOFR derivatives for the health of the transition.

In remarks on December 6, 2018, Chairman Clayton mentioned the transition away from LIBOR as a market risk that the SEC is currently monitoring.  For Chairman Clayton, the key risk stems from the fact that there are approximately $200 trillion in notional transactions referencing the U.S. Dollar LIBOR and that more than $35 trillion will not mature by the end of 2021, when banks currently reporting information used to set LIBOR are scheduled to stop doing so.  Listing potential issues with a transition away from LIBOR, Chairman Clayton raised questions such as what happens to the interest rates of the instruments that will not mature before 2021 but reference LIBOR?  Does an instrument’s documentation include any fallback language?  If not, will consents be required to amend the documentation?
Continue Reading SEC Chairman Weighs in on the Transition to SOFR

On November 29, 2018, in remarks before the 2018 Financial Stability Conference in Washington, D.C., Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) supported the adoption of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as the new benchmark for short-term unsecured interest rates.  SOFR is currently produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“New York Fed”) and is based on transactions in the repurchase agreement transaction (“repo”) markets.  Chairman Giancarlo’s statements and support of SOFR come on the heels of a series of market and regulatory developments relating to benchmark reform.

Since 2017, regulators and financial market industry leaders have been working to design alternative interest rate benchmarks.  Significantly, in June 2017, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), an organization convened by the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the New York Fed, selected a broad repo rate as its preferred alternative reference rate.  In choosing a broad repo rate, ARRC considered factors including the depth of the underlying market and its likely robustness over time; the rate’s usefulness to market participants; and whether the rate’s construction, governance, and accountability would be consistent with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.
Continue Reading CFTC Chairman and Market Participants Weigh in on the Transition to SOFR