NIBA Journal

Cybersecurity: Before & After the Breach

Security breaches are quite prevalent in the media today. Many security experts feel it’s not a question of if your company will suffer a breach of your information, but when. A panel at the NIBA Annual Members Meeting recently explored this topic. Preparation for a potential event is key to being able to address it. Information Technology (IT) enterprises of all sizes need to know exactly what data they have, where it is stored, and what the potential threats to the data are. Even small companies need to pay attention to the basics of securing their computing environment. These include: • Timely patching of operating system and other software • Using strong passwords for machine access • Performing backups of critical data • Protecting sensitive data through full disk or file encryption • Using a host-based firewall and anti-virus software • Learning to recognize phishing and other scams Drafting an...

Cybersecurity: A New Frontier for IBs and CTAs

The importance of cybersecurity has taken many industries by storm, and the futures industry is no exception. Indeed, CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad has recognized cybersecurity as “the single most important new risk to market integrity and financial stability.” The CFTC has been active in cybersecurity awareness for a couple of years, but the agency’s recent laser-like focus has made cybersecurity awareness an imperative rather than a consideration. The CFTC began to take earnest steps with respect to cybersecurity in February 2014, when it issued CFTC Advisory No. 14-21, which outlined the best practices for meeting cybersecurity responsibilities. In the Advisory, the CFTC cautioned that IBs, CTAs and others should, “at a minimum,” abide by several “best practices,” which include: • Designating an employee with privacy and security management oversight responsibilities; • Identifying all reasonably foreseeable risks to security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information and related systems; • Designing and...

October Chairman's Letter

Dear Members - On November 9, the NIBA will be in Washington, DC to meet with members of the CFTC, as well as other industry participants. Steve Petillo, Mike Burke and I want to bring those issues which are most important to YOU to the attention of the Commissioners. Please forward your suggestions and questions for the CFTC to anyone of us prior to October 30. On October 12, the University of Illinois sponsored a symposium entitled “How Should We Measure Futures Investment Performance?” Organized by Dr. Paul Peterson, U of I Urbana-Champaign featured four presentations -- two presented by our NIBA colleagues. Jerry Nolan (County Cork, LLC), NIBA Board Member discussed “The Russian Invasion of Crimea and the Perfect Storm in the Soybean Crush: Three Investor Experiences with a Discretionary Ag Program in 2014.” Mark Shore (Shore Capital Research, LLC), NIBA Advisory Group member, presented a study entitled “Risk...

NIBA Announces the Formation of its first-ever Advisory Group

NIBA is excited to announce the formation of the NIBA Advisory Group (AG). NIBA, now in its 25th year, is proud to have a distinguished group of individuals working together on initiatives which will grow the association, and help members service their customers more effectively. Individuals serving on the AG each have a unique knowledge of the futures industry, and each has agreed to share their expertise for the benefit of NIBA members. The Advisory Group (AG) will meet in Chicago early December; the term of membership is 2 years. AG Members for 2015 to 2017 include: * Dan Basse, AgResource * Matt Giarelli, BarChart * Kelly Hartman, CME Group * Dr. Carl Luft, DePaul University * Marc Nagel, Marc Nagel Consulting * Mark Ruddy, Ruddy Law, PLLC * Mark Shore, Shore Capital Research * Ginger Szala, Ginger Szala Ink * Ted. Theisen, UnitedLex NIBA board members serving on this...

NIBA in Washington, DC

On November 9, the NIBA will travel to Washington, DC to meet with various members of the CFTC as well as other industry participants, such as the CMC.  Melinda Schramm -- melinda@futuresrep.com, Steve Petillo -- petillo@coquest.com and Mike Burke -- mikeb@highgroundtrading.com will represent the NIBA in meetings with the Commissioners, staff and other personnel. Please contact Melinda, Steve or Mike if you have questions or issues you would like to have discussed. Your questions can be presented anonymously.

Upcoming DePaul University Cyber-Risk Conference and Arditti Center Open House

Volatility and Risk

It is very difficult to separate the concepts of volatility and risk, the two are intimately intertwined. Look no further than the pending Federal Reserve rate decision at time of this writing. Most traders have taken to the sidelines to wait for the decision from the Federal Reserve. Will they raise rates? Will they keep rates the same? Will they not? This is been the permeating question during this last quarter. It is also a question of value. How much does the answer impact in the markets. As a result, strategies are formed, and bets are placed, and risk is managed accordingly. The concept is quite simple but is sometimes difficult in practice. Commonly referred to as the three C's; First there needs to be a concept of what's going on, second one must have conviction to initiate positions, third (and possibly most importantly) there better be a contingency plan...

Symposium on "How Should We Measure Futures Investment Performance?"

Stock and bond investments have a number of commonly accepted performance benchmarks, such as the S&P 500 and the BarCap indexes. But with futures-related investments – particularly actively managed ones – evaluating performance can be challenging. Join us for an interesting and informative session that examines these issues from different points of view, with presentations by four recognized industry experts: Hilary Till, Solich Scholar, J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, University of Colorado-Denver and Principal, Premia Capital Management LLC Galen Burghardt, Director of Research, COEX Partners Inc. Mark Shore, President and Chief Investment Officer, Shore Capital Management LLC Jerry Nolan, Director of Business Development, County Cork LLC Symposium on "How Should We Measure Futures Investment Performance?" Monday, October 12 – 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM (lunch provided) Illini Center (Illinois Room, 4th floor) 200 South Wacker Drive, Chicago Hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural & Consumer...

Symposium on "How Should We Measure Futures Investment Performance?"

Stock and bond investments have a number of commonly accepted performance benchmarks, such as the S&P 500 and the BarCap indexes. But with futures-related investments – particularly actively managed ones – evaluating performance can be challenging. Join us for an interesting and informative session that examines these issues from different points of view, with presentations by four recognized industry experts: Hilary Till, Solich Scholar, J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, University of Colorado-Denver and Principal, Premia Capital Management LLC Galen Burghardt, Director of Research, COEX Partners Inc. Mark Shore, President and Chief Investment Officer, Shore Capital Management LLC Jerry Nolan, Director of Business Development, County Cork LLC Symposium on "How Should We Measure Futures Investment Performance?" Monday, October 12 – 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM (lunch provided) Illini Center (Illinois Room, 4th floor) 200 South Wacker Drive, Chicago Hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural & Consumer...

Chicago Conference Wrap Up

Wow - that was great! by the 2015 September Conference Committee Almost 200 NIBA members attended an education/information/networking packed-day on September 24 at the NIBA Annual Meeting in Chicago. We've received rave reviews for the presenters and the demo room tables from all the attendees. We want to thank all our speakers and sponsors for their support and for making this event easy to plan and implement. We particularly want to thank CME Group for their primary sponsorship and box lunches, and Blu Putnam for the luncheon speech. Over the next few weeks, articles written by the conference speakers and sponsors will be posted on the NIBA website and will be included in our newsletter. And you can check out the video recordings made during the meeting right here - right now. NIBA Chicago: The El Nino Effect Panel NIBA Chicago: Sources of Volatility Panel NIBA Chicago: Cybersecurity Panel Our...