On Monday, April 18, I met with Chairman Gensler and members of his staff in the Washington, DC offices of the CFTC.
I brought your questions and suggestions, along with other topics to the meeting.
Among the issues we discussed were:
- The impact of the inclusion of IBs in various CFTC rules currently being written in response to the Dodd-Frank Act.
- The effect of the proposal of CFTC Rule 1.71 - separation of the research department from other functions within the office - upon the IB community.
- ETF and swap trading among IBs.
- Position limit regulation.
- Results of the 2-year investigation of possible manipulation in the Comex silver market.
Chairman Gensler commented that our issues were well presented, but he did not respond definitively regarding any of the topics or questions we raised. Along with two senior members of the staff, he listened to our concerns and said that they would be taken into consideration during the rule-making process. He did indicate that it may have been an over-reach to include the IB category in regulations where identical information and data can be received by the Commission from other industry registrants such as FCMs and/or exchanges. It is important to continue our conversation with the Commission.
NIBA has been vocal and direct in the 20 plus years we have represented Introducing Brokers. We have always been on the side of less paperwork, less repetitive reporting and better access to the markets for all participants. We will be contacting Chairman Gensler and the entire Commission again during this potentially industry-changing process, and expressing your opinions.
Thank you for your responses. Keep them coming. Additionally, if you would like to discuss specific issues with members of the NIBA Board of Directors, please directly contact Bill Purpura wpurpura@gltdirect.com (Comex silver investigation follow-up and position limit regulation) and Rich Strait rich@straitllc.com (ETFs and position limit regulation).
Warm regards,
Melinda
Melinda Schramm | Chairman