NIBA Journal

Insights, analysis, and updates from the National Introducing Brokers Association

November 9, 2017

Chairman's Letter - November 2017

“Money, Money, Money” ----- ABBA, recorded and released 1976 Okay --I admit it. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the right time to mention ABBA for any reason in the Chairman’s Letter. Their 1976 release of “Money, Money, Money” was the second big hit for this Swedish pop group, following on the heels of “Dancing Queen.” Is it a stretch from money, money, money to Bitcoin and other forms of digital currency? Maybe. In the past week we have seen that the major futures exchanges believe in the development of cryptocurrency trading. Chris Concannon, COO and president of CBOE Global Markets is quoted by Reuters: ”...we do envision (our bitcoin) ETF coming to market once the regulated futures market is built...” Just days before, CME Group announced it would launch the Bitcoin futures contract in the fourth quarter of this year. Terry Duffy, CME Group Chairman & CEO said “Given increasing...

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October 26, 2017

3 min read

Housekeeping, Reminders and Updates - October 2017

Written by: Mark E. Ruddy, Esq. Maria Fielding   Increase in National Futures Association (“NFA”) Assessment Fee The NFA’s Executive Committee is recommending an increase in the NFA’s assessment fee beginning January 1, 2018. The Executive Committee voted in favor of recommending that the assessment fee increases from $0.01 per side to $0.02 per side for futures and options contracts, bringing the assessment fee back to its amount prior to being reduced in October 2014 to $0.01. The NFA maintains that an increase in the assessment fee is necessary in order to continue operations and maintain reserves properly. The recommended increase is currently pending approval by the NFA’s Board of Directors and the CFTC. The NFA issued Notice to Members I-17-20, which provides further information on assessment fee increase. NFA Releases Filing Instructions for Swap Dealer (“SD”) Dispute Notices and Monthly SD Risk Data Reports On October 2, 2017, the...

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October 26, 2017

7 min read

NIBA Comment Letter - CFTC Project KISS

NIBA - The Association for Derivatives Professionals 55 W. Monroe, Ste. 3600 Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 977-0598 www.theniba.com BY ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION Christopher Kirkpatrick, Secretary Commodity Futures Trading Commission 1155 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20581 September 28, 2017 Re: CFTC Request for Public Input to Make Regulations(s) Simpler, Less Burdensome and Less Costly (Project KISS) Mr. Kirkpatrick: The NIBA appreciates the opportunity to provide suggestions and comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) as it reviews existing rules and regulations with an eye toward possible reevaluation of certain of them. We support the review, and look forward to working with the Commission to applying the reviewed rules in a less burdensome, less costly manner which is simpler to understand and implement. NIBA, established in 1991, is a membership association of registered derivatives professionals, primarily Introducing Brokers (IBs) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs). Our mission has remained the...

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October 26, 2017

3 min read

Compliance Supervisors International Welcomes John Brand

Compliance Supervisors International Inc. (“CSI”), is excited to welcome John Brand to lead our Chicago Compliance Division. John is an excellent addition to CSI, and we look forward to leveraging his extensive and deep industry knowledge, with the current and ever-changing compliance and regulatory policies to better help our clients. Mr. Brand's compliance and examination experience spans across two decades, where he served in numerous compliance roles, most recently as Managing Director of Compliance at the National Futures Association. Mr. Brand also held various compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Compliance positions in the FCM community and for a Derivatives Clearing Organization. He worked closely with futures industry participants in evaluating their internal controls, along with helping refine their processes and procedures as they relate to compliance, risk management and financial reporting. Mr. Brand has also supervised, trained, and developed compliance and risk management teams for those various institutions. A graduate of...

CME Group Russell 2000

Register Today: The Russell 2000 Surge and Futures Trading Opportunities Webinar Small Cap, Big Opportunity With the likes of Alphabet, Apple and Amazon trading at lofty valuations, small-cap stocks, indices and futures are bringing back some edge to the market. Register for the CME Group upcoming webinar to learn how the Russell 2000® and E-mini Russell 2000 Index futures present trading opportunities for both institutional and individual traders. Register Today

Chairman's Letter - October 2017

Podcast: an episodic series of digial audio or video files which a user can download and listen to - Wikipedia, 2017 NIBA’s mission is to educate derivatives professionals so they can better serve their customers, stay in compliance and grow their businesses. One of the ways the mission is accomplished is through posting the video files of our member conferences on the NIBA website. You can sit back and relax at home to watch the sessions for the first time, or review them any time. Currently, you can access all the individual presentations through the member’s portal on the site from our September annual meeting and from last April’s meeting in New York City. CFTC Talks is a new podcast which will cover all topics impacting the markets regulated by the agency. The stated purpose of the podcasts is to help the CFTC “better understand the market narrative, what’s driving...

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September 28, 2017

2 min read

Ask NFA: October 2017

As your industry advocate, the NIBA provides many services which help your business stay in compliance with NFA regulations. “Ask the NFA,” is the way you can ask questions about those regulations and compliance requirements without having to call NFA directly. Just email us at nfacomments@theniba.com and we will get the answers for you. Please keep in mind the purpose of this contact is to keep the lines of communication between the NFA and NIBA members. This month’s questions were selected from those submitted by NIBA members. The answers were supplied by NFA staff. Q: I heard NFA updated the individual application process. Where can I find more information? A: In September 2017, NFA launched an updated individual application process in its Online Registration System (ORS) as the second deliverable of a multi-year, multi-phase rebuild of the system. ORS is an NFA application that allows firms and individuals to apply...

Claim your Free NIBA Membership

In case you missed the announcement - the NIBA Board of Directors has announced a FREE one year membership to the association. This comes to you as a thank you for your support and loyalty over the association's 25 year history. If you have not already claimed your FREE membership please follow the instructions found in the video link below. Once you have claimed your membership and reset your login password you will have access to the private members only portal area, attendance to all NIBA events this year, a listing in the NIBA directory (heaviest traffic area of the website) and the ability to bring your issues and concerns to the NIBA board for consideration. https://www.theniba.com/membership-sign-up-help/

NIBA September Conference Videos

NIBAs September conference in Chicago was a great success. The sessions were well attended, speakers were relevant and engaging and we had a few tricks up our sleeve throughout the day to keep things interesting as well. The association debuted two "firsts" for the annual conference - Quant Corner and Cryptocurrency Trading. Both were very well received. If you have any comments or suggestions on our conference please check your email for our post conference survey or feel free to email the conference chairman, Ryan Griffeth directly at ryan.griffeth@postrockbrokerage.com. The entire program was captured by video and is now available within our member portal. Part of our 25th anniversary offering and a thank you to our loyal members and the industry at large was a free one year membership to the association. This includes access to our members only portal. You should have receive an email confirming your free membership...

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September 28, 2017

3 min read

Housekeeping, Reminders & Updates - September 2017

  National Futures Association (“NFA”) Updates Financial Statement Filings The NFA is adding additional questions to independent introducing brokers’ (“IBs’”) financial statement filings beginning with the September 30, 2017 filings. The additional questions do not concern new information being collected by the NFA, but rather information that had previously been collected by way of a follow up from the NFA to an IB after financial statements were submitted. The hope is that the financial statement filing process will be streamlined by asking these questions at the time of submission filings instead of the NFA having to call up the IBs after submission. The NFA issued Notice to Members I-17-18, which provides further information on the modification of the IB financial statement filings. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) Updates Jurisdictions List On September 15, 2017, FinCEN released Advisory FIN-2017-A005, which highlights the June 23, 2017 update from the Financial Action Task...

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