Insights, analysis, and updates from the National Introducing Brokers Association
The NIBA is excited to announce its three annual membership conferences for the 2015 calendar year. California Membership Conference: February 19, 2015 New York Membership Conference: April 30, 2015 Chicago Membership Conference: September 24, 2015 Please save the dates and more details to follow.....
Notice I-14-33 On December 1st, the NFA released Notice to Members I-14-33 regarding the CFTC’s recent approval on the NFA’s Interpretive Notice entitled “NFA Compliance Rules 2-4 and 2-36: Prohibition on the Use of Certain Electronic Funding Mechanisms.” Effective January 31, 2015, the Interpretative Notice prohibits NFA Members from permitting customers to fund their futures and forex accounts with the use of a credit card or any other electronic method tied to a credit card. An example of another method tied to a credit card would be using payment facilitators such as PayPal that draw funds from credit card accounts. The NFA explains that members may still continue to accept other methods of electronic funding, such as debit cards, which draw funds directly from a customer’s account at their designated financial institution. However, for this service to be provided, Members will have to distinguish between an electronic funding method that...
FIRM PROFILE Firm Name: Stewart-Peterson Group Inc. Founded: 1985 Number of Brokers: 20+ IB Status: GIB NIBA Member Since: Its inception Address (City, State): West Bend, Wisconsin Number of Branch Offices: 6 Website: www.stewartpetersongroup.com NFA Registration Number: 0185491 About the Firm: How did you get started? Do you provide additional services besides brokerage? The founder of Stewart-Peterson Group, Scott Stewart, has a passion for agriculture, and wanted to do what he could to help producers in their marketing. Stewart-Peterson provides services to producers that help them make impactful pricing decisions through one-on-one relationships and newsletters. What are the biggest challenges your clients face today, and how do you help them? The biggest challenge is the temptation to get caught up in the day-to-day events that move the market, causing one to lose focus on the bigger picture. This causes one to be reactive to events and make pricing decisions after the market move is over. We help by...
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 NFA and NIBA members open, not to fix any specific individual concerns. This month's questions were selected from those submitted by NIBA members. The answers were supplied by NFA staff. Question: May an NFA Member pay 3rd-party marketers or unregistered person for customer referrals? Answer: In certain circumstances an NFA Member may be permitted to pay a 3rd-party marketer, unregistered entity or an unregistered person (collectively, "unregistered person") a one-time referral fee for customer referrals. However, the NFA Member...
Let George Do It! For more than 30 years the NFA has developed programs that safeguard market integrity, protect investors. At times our organization has been visionary in its pursuit of appropriate regulations and services. As your new Board Member, I endeavor to maintain and enhance this effort. Certainly the confidence of investors is critical to the success and growth of our markets. The most effective is to create and maintain the highest levels of integrity of all market participants. • Vision I have served on many profit and nonprofit boards, from corporate endeavors, to college, and philanthropic organizations. As an effective board member, I have joined others in creating the appropriate strategies and environment for the betterment of the organization. I believe it is the essential duty of a board member not to micromanage an organization, but to assist in creating the correct policies and strategies. The NFA looks...
“Sharing information is extremely helpful, but some large companies are now assuming that truly determined hackers cannot be kept out. So they are putting more emphasis on building resilience—the ability to bounce back fast in the event of a breach. It is essential to have well-conceived recovery plan to test it regularly, says Ed Powers of Deloitte, a consulting firm. In financial services, where a problem at one company could easily trigger a system-wide crisis, regulators are urging banks and other firms to consider resilience across markets.” —From the Cyber Security Special Report—Defending the Digital Frontier, The Economist, July 12, 2014 Target. Home Depot. The White House. The Post Office. JP Morgan Chase. The National Institutes of Health. Every day, another name gets added to the list. And these are the lucky ones who realize that they are on the list! No company or sector, private or public, is immune....
This month marks the initiation of CFTC Regulation 1.22 implementation, often referred to as the “residual interest” rule. On November 14, the deadline for FCMs to post their own capital into customer segregated accounts which require additional margin moves to 6:00 pm ET on the settlement date. Obviously, this affects the deadline for your customers to increase their own funds. This past July and at our annual member meeting in September, NIBA presented several workshops explaining the requirements of this rule and its possible effects on your customer and FCM relationships. Please contact your FCM directly if you have questions, as each of them has issued specific protocol for compliance. The CFTC has also issued an Interpretative Letter stating that an FCM may credit a customer’s futures, foreign futures and/or cleared swaps account for a margin payment upon the FCM’s initiation of a withdrawal from the customer’s bank account using...
Member Fee Reminders will be sent to all member categories in December. For the 10th year, fees for IBs, CTAs and CPOs will remain at $150. You can renew your membership or join online or with the application included in your reminder envelope. Benefits of membership include: A company listing with click-thru to your website at the NIBA Online Broker Directory. The NIBA Broker Directory is recognized by the industry as the go-to source for general and contact information for IBs, CTAs and CPOs. Attendance at Member conferences and other events including February 19 in southern California, April 30 in New York City and September in Chicago. In 2014, more than 1,000 registrants attended our meetings. Representation of your Opinions at the CFTC, NFA and Exchanges. Your opinions made a difference regarding implementation of CFTC Regulations 1.22 and 1.35, and the crediting of ACHs to customer accounts. The CME Group...
INTRODUCING BROKERS An October 31, 2014, Notice to Members, Notice I-14-27, announced that all introducing brokers (“IBs”) financial reports are now required to be filed electronically, this includes the annual certified reports. This is a result of the National Futures Association’s (“NFA”) amendment to Section 5 of the NFA Manual. Section 5 outlines the financial requirements for Member IBs. The amendment to the financial requirements includes the annual certified FOCUS reports, submitted by IBs that are also broker-dealers, and is effective October 31, 2014, for reports filed through the WinJammer filing system and the NFA’s EasyFile system. The WinJammer system was recently upgraded to accommodate filings of certified annual FOCUS reports. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION On November 10, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued press release PR: 7055-14 (“Press Release”) and staff letter No: 14-137 (“Staff Letter”), both of which addressed trade executions and swaps. The Press release...
How reputation management works and why you need to work yours! I admit I was that mother that told her children, “It doesn’t matter what other people think about you. It just matters what you believe about yourself.” I was wrong. Perception lives in the minds of the people we encounter – our clients, colleagues, managers, brokers, etc. – and their perception of who we are and what we have to offer directly influences their willingness to give us what we want. Do your clients consider you trustworthy, knowledgeable and confident in your recommendations? Or, do they see you as difficult to deal with and non-responsive? The impact of reputation to your career and business is significant! Managing and directing the way your target audience perceives you could be the most critical career tool you use. Reputation management, and personal branding, takes much of the mystery and randomness out of...
