Rimon Partner John Mussman discusses the Senate’s vote to scuttle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule. The arbitration rule restricted financial service companies from forcing customers into arbitration, made it easier for customers to sue banks and financial firms and arguably would have encouraged class action litigation. You can read more here

Video from Robin Powers’ CLE webinar on the new regulations governing the use of OTC derivatives in the United States and Europe from September 11, 2013. The different requirements will create new and possibly overlapping compliance obligations for end users who engage in derivatives/ hedging activities in the US and abroad.  For many end users, this…

In order to help market participants establish the procedures required by EMIR, ISDA has released the ISDA 2013 EMIR Portfolio Reconciliation, Dispute Resolution and Disclosure Protocol (the “EMIR Protocol”).  But adhering is not the only way to ensure that you will be able to trade with EU financial entities as of the coming deadline. 1.    …

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued a time limited ‘No Action’ letter that exempts Prime Brokers from certain aspects of Dodd-Frank rules. There had been widespread concern that Prime Brokers would be required to comply with the obligation to disclosure of the mid-market mark. The CFTC No Action letter recognized that the prime broker would…

On August 5, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) announced that it downgraded the United States to a AA+ rating from its longstanding AAA status. The immediate effects of S&P’s downgrade are likely to be modest, largely because it was expected and at least partly discounted in advance. But for participants in the derivatives markets, the downgrade…

When Dodd-Frank was signed into law on July 21, 2010, it was the just the beginning of a very long process.  The Act came in at over 2,000 pages, but left the majority of the work – roughly 400 rules or studies – to 30 different federal agencies. Only 49 of the mandated rules have…

July 16 has Arrived… And the world hasn’t ended. More importantly, the financial sector hasn’t gone into a state of meltdown.  While we will continue to watch as rules are debated, agency heads speak before Congress, and press releases are circulated, it is important to note that the implications of Dodd-Frank’s July 16 deadline had…

Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Law (FIEL) Japan’s corollary to Title VII of Dodd-Frank is the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law (FIEL), which went into effect in 2008.  While the laws are similar, they are by no means identical. The Japanese law remains silent on topics that Dodd-Frank addresses thoroughly. Most notable among these topics…

Swaps Experts Say Market Will Grow; Others Differ in Opinion As the swaps market braces for Dodd-Frank impact, firms and investors differ on the anticipated changes in the newly regulated market. Citigroup, Inc. recently released a white paper predicting that interest rate and credit default swaps will grow more than 10% by 2013 as trading…

ISDA Calls for Coordination Amongst Global Regulators The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) recently announced their position that Global regulators need to first coordinate new rules for trade repositories before drafting more complex derivatives rules. The ISDA feels that G20 agreed upon reforms must be enacted prior to other rules so that there is…