Banks Ask for Margin Relief The largest U.S. banks via a joint letter on June 29, 2011 asked the Commodities Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) to remove the requirement that overseas swap transactions be subject to margin requirements, regardless of whether the swap counterparty is an affiliate of a U.S. organization. This follows on the coattails…

NYSE sees Growth in Derivatives in June Uncertainty reigns in the derivatives market as regulators on either side of the Atlantic debate upcoming risk managements regulations, but this has hardly slowed the growth of the industry. http://derivative-news.fincad.com/derivatives-news/nyse-sees-growth-in-derivatives-in-june-1274/

Britain and EU Differ over Derivatives Reform Rules Last Monday, July 4, the EU announced that it won’t be prepared to make any decisions regarding derivatives regulation before September. The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) has hit a road block as a result of the inability of the European states to reach compromise on which…

Earlier this year in March, Amazon launched the Amazon Appstore, which was then a new avenue for buying Android apps.  Almost immediately after the launch, Apple proceeded to file a trademark infringement suit against Amazon over the usage of the “Appstore” phrase.  The case is contingent upon whether “app store” can be deemed a generic…

LegalZoom, as referenced in http://www.rimonlaw.com/blog/2011/05/31/e-law-firms-versus-document-mills, is an online service that allows people to economically generate their own legal documents, which are customized by a series of questions – think TurboTax for law.  Though customized, the product is still based on a limited set of templates.  LegalZoom is based in California, and was founded by Robert Shapiro,…

SEC and CFTC Differ in their Approach to Temporary Relief Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act gives authority to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate security-based swaps, while the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will generally be responsible for swaps markets.  Both the SEC and CFTC have recently announced temporary relief will be available…

Firms Oppose FDIC Claw Back Provision On Wednesday (July 6, 2011), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) voted on a rule allowing the government to recover payments from both senior executives and directors who the FDIC determines to be “substantially responsible” for a financial firm’s failure. This rule, known as the “claw back provision,” is…

Dodd-Frank’s Impact on Private Equity Firms – Limited Private Fund Exemption For hedge funds and private equity firms, anxiety over the new regulations brought by Dodd-Frank pivots on Title VII and a simple dilemma: new paperwork to be done and no one to do it. However, there is a loophole. Dodd-Frank expands the requirements on…

Will SEC, CFTC Budget Cuts Impede Dodd-Frank? It was not shocking to hear that both the SEC and the CFTC would have to extend their rulemaking deadlines, as their newly found responsibilities stemming from Dodd-Frank are certainly burdensome. It would have been nearly impossible for both agencies to cooperatively define key terms relating to the…

Fireworks over Dodd-Frank As the United States celebrates her birthday amidst the financial reform that is Dodd-Frank, many people both at home and abroad are unhappy with the legislation and its potential repercussions. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-27/fed-s-hoenig-sees-economic-danger-in-big-financial-companies.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/dodd-frank-fail-hoenig_n_885900.html http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-06-29/amf-jouyet-dodd-frank-emir-europe-us?mod=sectionheadlines-IB-AM http://www.cnbc.com/id/43318967/Geithner_Triggers_Asian_Backlash_on_Regulation