Since this is the beginning of NEM’s 15th Year, we have made special plans to celebrate this milestone at our 15th Annual National Restructuring Conference in Washington, DC on April 24 and 25, 2012. The Conference will be held at the Embassy Suites DC Convention Center, 900 10th Street, NW, Washington, DC. The Agenda is available at this hotlink.

Public Service Commission Chairs, Commissioners and other elected and appointed officials from around the country have already started to confirm their participation. Your sponsorship and support would be very helpful to make this NEM Event the best ever.

Sponsorship opportunities for this event can be viewed online at this hotlink.

Early registration for the April event is available online at this hotlink.

At a public meeting yesterday, CFTC adopted a final rule and a revised proposed rule amongst many to implement the Dodd Frank Act. CFTC deferred acting on a final rule that would adopt definitions of “Swap Dealer,” “Security-Based Swap Dealer,” “Major Swap Participant,” “Major Security-Based Swap Participant” and “Eligible Contract Participant.” The Commissioners alluded to the challeges of coordinating with SEC on the rules as a reason contributing to the delay.

CFTC adopted a final rule at the meeting that established reporting and recordkeeping requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants that are intended to permit auditing. Records required to be maintained include full and complete transaction and position information for all swap activities, and transaction records must be kept in a form that is identifiable and searchable by transaction and counterparty. CFTC adopted requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants to utilize a risk management program to monitor and manage risks associated with swap activities. CFTC adopted requirements on conflicts of interest that prohibit swap dealers, major swap participants, futures commission merchants and introducing brokers from providing favorable research or changing research to counterparties in exchange for business or compensation. CFTC also adopted rules pertaining to qualfifications, duties and annual reports to be provided by chief compliance officers for swap dealers and major swap participants. The rules were adopted by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Sommers and O'Malia opposing. Commissioner O'Malia in particular expressed concern about the deficiency of the cost-benefit analysis performed in support of the rule.

CFTC also approved a revised proposal to determine what constitutes a large notional swap transaction or block trade for the purpose of applying time delays in public reporting of swap transactions.