Craig Stein

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Investment funds (or investment managers on their behalf) may now adhere to the ISDA March 2013 DF Protocol Agreement (“Protocol 2.0”). Protocol 2.0, as with the ISDA August 2012 DF Protocol (the “August Protocol”), is an efficient means for swap dealers to comply with certain new Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) rules applicable to bilaterally…

Given the large number of regulatory developments coming from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Futures Association and other regulatory agencies, we have compiled a short list of important recent and upcoming deadlines facing commodity pool operators and investment advisers. Along with each deadline, the list provides a concise summary of certain actions that…

On April 30, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff issued a letter granting temporary relief to swap dealers from compliance with certain “external business conduct standards” related to foreign exchange and swap prime brokerage arrangements. This relief is not expected to impose any new obligations on investment advisers. However, it forestalls a potential market…

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)’s April 10, 2013 deadline for investment funds that are U.S. Persons to comply with swap data reporting and recordkeeping rules is fast approaching. Investment funds must also obtain a CFTC Interim Compliant Identifier (“CICI”) by this deadline date.

Reporting
If an investment fund is trading with a CFTC-registered swap…

ISDA has included an Addendum I (the “Addendum”) to the ISDA August 2012 Dodd-Frank Protocol Questionnaire (“Questionnaire”), which provides provisions addressing changes to certain “eligible contract participant” categories that will become effective on Dec. 31, 2012. The Addendum is relevant to any OTC Derivative Counterparties that are “commodity pools” and who (a) rely upon the…

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and SWIFT have launched a Web portal to begin assigning CFTC Interim Compliant Identifiers (CICIs) as required by the CFTC’s Data and Recordkeeping Rule. All swap counterparties are required to be identified by a CICI. All swap counterparties currently adhering to the ISDA Dodd-Frank Protocol are required to…

In July 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC” and, together with the CFTC, the “Commissions”) jointly adopted new rules and interpretations (the “Definitions Release”) to define the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement” (collectively, “Product Definitions”), to provide for the joint regulation by the Commissions of…

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) published the ISDA Illegality/Force Majeure Protocol (the “Protocol”) on 11 July 2012. The Protocol amends the 1992 version of the ISDA Master Agreement (“’92 ISDA”) to include the Illegality and Force Majeure provisions from the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement (“2002 ISDA”).

The Protocol is part of ISDA’s more…

On April 27, 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” and, together with the CFTC, the “Agencies”) published their joint final “entity definitions” rule (the “Entity Rule”) in a release (the “Entity Rule Release”) defining the terms “Swap Dealer” and “Security-Based Swap Dealer” (“SBS Dealer” and,…