December 2014

On December 22 and 23, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) issued extensions of previously granted “no-action relief” to Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) located in Tokyo, Japan, and Eurex Clearing AG (Eurex Clearing) located in Eschborn, Germany, respectively. The relief allows JSCC and Eurex Clearing to continue…

On December 18, 2014, the Federal Reserve Board published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would impose additional capital requirements for the largest and most interconnected US bank holding companies. This surcharge would be in addition to the capital conservation buffer already required under existing bank holding company capital requirements. If…

Continuing its ongoing study to determine whether asset managers pose a systemic risk to the U.S. financial system, on December 18, 2014, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) issued a notice seeking comments from the public whether asset management products and activities pose potential risks to the U.S. financial system. Once published in the Federal …

On December 22, 2014, the CFTC announced that its Subcommittee on Foreign Exchange Markets (“FEM”), which is comprised of several private industry market participants, submitted a report to the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee regarding a potential clearing mandate for foreign exchange (“FX”) non-deliverable forwards (“NDFs”). The CFTC invited comments on the FEM report,…

At its December 18, 2014, meeting, with one dissent, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) approved the designation of MetLife Inc. as a systemically important financial institution, or SIFI. As a SIFI, it will be subject to supervision by the Federal Reserve Board and may be subject to heightened prudential standards similar to those applicable…

On December 18, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC’s”) Division of Clearing and Risk (“DCR”) issued extensions of previously granted “No-Action” relief to four foreign clearing organizations. The relief allows these foreign clearing organizations to continue to clear swaps for certain United States persons (“U.S. persons”) without being registered as a derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) with the CFTC or obtaining an exemption from registration.

On December 18, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC’s”) Division of Clearing and Risk (“DCR”) issued extensions of previously granted “No-Action” relief to four foreign clearing organizations. The relief allows these foreign clearing organizations to continue to clear swaps for certain United States persons (“U.S. persons”) without being registered as a derivatives clearing organization…

On December 18, 2014, the Federal Reserve Board issued an order allowing banking entities an additional year, from July 2015 to July 2016, to conform their relationships with certain covered funds and foreign funds subject to the Volcker Rule.

The Board also noted in its order that it will issue another order next year to…

Background

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 12 June 2014 and entered into force 20 days later (2 July 2014).

Following the finalisation of MiFID II and MiFIR the European Securities and Markets Authority…