Repurchase Agreements (Repos)

The United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Financial Research (OFR) conducted a pilot survey to determine why primary dealers prefer trading in the noncentrally cleared bilateral repurchase agreement (NCCBR) market segment of the United States repurchase agreement (repo) market. Primary dealers serve as the trading counterparties for the Federal Reserve’s open market operations. The OFR Brief suggests primary dealers prefer to trade in NCCBR over other repo market segments because it provides them with much greater flexibility.Continue Reading Netted Packages Drive Large Trading Volumes in Noncentrally-Cleared, Bilateral Repos

By Stephen A. Keen & Andrew P. Cross

This is the sixth installment of our discussion of the compliance requirements of new Rule 18f‑4 and wraps up our discussion of paragraph (d) of the new rule and its application to business development companies (“BDCs”), closed-end funds and open-end funds other than money market

This is the fifth installment of our discussion of the compliance requirements of new Rule 18f‑4 and completes our consideration of paragraph (d) of the new rule and its application to business development companies, closed-end funds and open-end funds other than money market funds (“Funds”). Our two previous posts considered the application of

By Stephen A. Keen and Andrew P. Cross

This post is the third installment of our discussion of the compliance requirements of new Rule 18f‑4. From this point forward, we will be dealing with exemptions that apply only to business development companies (“BDCs”), closed-end funds and open-end funds other than money market funds

This post is Part 2 of a series of posts that addresses the impact of recent regulatory developments on the use of limited recourse provisions in futures customer agreements entered into between a futures commission merchant (an “FCM”) and an investment manager on behalf of one or more of the manager’s clients.

In this post, we provide an overview of recent regulatory pronouncements from two divisions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Joint Audit Committee (the“JAC”) of several large futures exchanges and the National Futures Association that prohibit the use of limited recourse provisions in futures customer agreements.
Continue Reading Limited Recourse Provisions in Futures Customer Agreements: Part 2 – I Cannot Guarantee Your Client’s Losses

Historically, many investment managers have negotiated limited recourse provisions into derivatives trading agreements entered into by the managers on behalf of their clients with banks, broker-dealers, and futures commission merchants (FCMs).  In short, these provisions state that only the assets in the specified account under the control of that particular manager can be used to make the other party to the agreement whole for losses and costs that relate to the specified account.

However, recent regulatory pronouncements from two divisions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Joint Audit Committee (the “JAC”) of several large futures exchanges and the National Futures Association prohibit the use of limited recourse provisions in futures customer agreements.  This blog post is Part 1 of a series of posts that will address the impact of these recent regulatory developments on investment managers.

We start with the basics – investment management relationships and the use of limited recourse provisions in derivatives trading documents.  Additional posts in this series will address the regulatory pronouncements and how those pronouncements may impact relationships that investment managers have with their clients and the FCMs through which the managers are trading on behalf of their clients.
Continue Reading Limited Recourse Provisions in Futures Customer Agreements: Part 1 – I Only Control My AUM

Both the SEC and FINRA recently released their 2019 Examination priorities, (available here and here) highlighting primary areas of focus for 2019.  While there are no surprises, there are some items that have a unique twist that warrant attention.  In this post we provide an overview of the regulators focus on Reg SHO and short selling.

Both regulators will continue to focus on aspects of Reg SHO compliance.  FINRA will be focused on the exception to the netting required in Rule 200(c).  Rule 200(c) states that a person shall be deemed to own securities only to the extent that he has a net long position in such securities.  Rule 200(f) grants an exception to the netting requirement by allowing broker-dealers to break into independent aggregation units for purposes of determining the trading unit’s net position.  To take advantage of the exception, broker-dealers must demonstrate four criteria to establish separateness and independence.  Of note, only broker-dealers can rely on 200(f).  During the adoption of Reg SHO Rule 200, commenters requested that the SEC extend the relief beyond broker-dealers, and the SEC declined to do so, stating that the lack of oversight by a self-regulatory organization might facilitate the creation of units that are not truly independent or separate. The SEC will be looking at Reg SHO compliance more broadly in the context of microcap securities. 
Continue Reading 2019 Priorities: Reg SHO/Short Selling

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

On November 6, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought an enforcement action against a (formerly) registered investment adviser (“Adviser”), for failing to meet its diligence and compliance responsibilities under the Investment Advisers Act (“IAA”) relating to certain repurchase agreement (“repos”) facilities it offered to