Norton Rose Fulbright represented Petros PACE Finance, LLC, a leading commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) lender, as the lender in the first New York City C-PACE financing which closed in early June. The C-PACE loan of $89 million on an existing building in the Wall Street area will be used to make the building … Continue Reading
As we discussed in our October blogpost “Advances in New York City PACE programs,” the New York City Department of Finance (“NYCDOF”) has published for comment proposed rules that would establish criteria and program guidelines for the New York City Commercial Property Assessment Clean Energy (“C-PACE”) Program. The proposed rules establish eligibility criteria for obtaining … Continue Reading
The New York City Department of Finance (“NYCDOF”) has published for comment proposed rules which would establish criteria and program guidelines for the New York City Commercial Property Assessment Clean Energy (“C-PACE”) Program. The proposed rules establish eligibility criteria for obtaining C-PACE loans for the purpose of retrofitting or renovating properties for energy efficiency or … Continue Reading
To promote growth of renewable energy projects, the New York State Legislature recently passed bill A.7805/S.6523 (the “C-PACE Bill”), which will allow real estate developers and commercial property owners to obtain Property Assessed Clean Energy (“PACE”) financing for new construction projects. PACE programs are thought to be beneficial for cities, promoting energy efficiency, reducing energy … Continue Reading
As a result of the United States Congress not adopting an appropriations bill or a continuing resolution to fund specific government departments, agencies or functions, certain federal agencies are currently subject to a partial government shutdown. Below is an overview of how the partial federal government shutdown is affecting financial or other major regulatory agencies: … Continue Reading
Norton Rose Fulbright New York office’s next financial services briefing is a luncheon seminar set for Thursday, December 7, 2017, at 12:00-1:00 PM ET. Each month, Norton Rose Fulbright’s senior practitioners will provide interested in-house counsel and professionals with an insightful discussion on current regulatory trends within the financial services sector. The December briefing will … Continue Reading
In a decision issued on July 7, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated revisions to the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) Minimum Offer Price Rule (“MOPR”) that had been proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) in response to a filing submitted by PJM pursuant to section 205 of the … Continue Reading
On May 22, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) amended Part 165 of its regulations, which govern whistleblower incentives and protections. In addition to strengthening existing anti-retaliation protections for whistleblowers, the amendments also prohibit employers from restricting employees from reporting potential violations of the Commodity Exchange Act directly to the CFTC. This prohibition extends … Continue Reading
Today, in a move on its long-pending proposals, the CFTC: (1) re-proposed its new speculative position limits rules (the “Re-Proposal”), which would impose federal limits on 25 physical commodity futures contracts and their “economically equivalent” futures, options, and swaps; and (2) separately issued final rules relating to position aggregation requirements (the “Final Aggregation Rules”). We … Continue Reading
CFTC Chairman Massad today announced that he will recommend a one-year extension of the date on which the swap dealer de minimis threshold will drop from $8 billion to $3 billion. Chairman Massad will recommend the Commission take this action through Commission order. If adopted, the Commission order would permit market participants to calculate their … Continue Reading
The CFTC has issued a supplemental proposed rulemaking (the “2016 Supplement”) that would give futures exchanges (“Exchanges”) greater authority over exemptions if the CFTC finalizes its long-pending proposed new speculative position limits that it published in December 2013 (the “Limits Proposal”). In an effort to be responsive to severe criticism of the Limits Proposal, particularly … Continue Reading
On May 10, 2016, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a notice of proposed amendment to its 2013 order exempting specified electric energy transactions in certain Regional Transmission Organizations (“RTOs”), Independent System Operators (“ISOs”) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) from regulation under certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) … Continue Reading
The CFTC recently issued Final Rules eliminating the requirement that commercial end-users of derivatives file an annual Form TO for reporting certain information about their use of commodity trade options. The agency confirmed that, in light of the Final Rules, the Form TO that was due by April 1, 2016, with respect to trade option … Continue Reading
ICE Futures US (“ICE”) adopted a new rule, effective March 18, 2016, that provides relief from position limit aggregation requirements applicable to “owned entities.” Specifically, the rule amendment permits certain affiliated entities to disaggregate their positions for purposes of compliance with ICE’s position limits. Background ICE imposes spot-month position limits on all its futures contracts, … Continue Reading
Market participants must be mindful of the robust enforcement environment at the CFTC and U.S. futures exchanges. In 2015, the CFTC brought numerous enforcement actions and continued to impose aggressive civil monetary penalties on market participants, including energy and agricultural companies. Significantly, the CFTC also started to pivot from implementing to enforcing its regulations promulgated … Continue Reading
On October 15, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order clarifying that the exemption from the buy/sell prohibition applies to supply side natural gas asset management agreements. This clarification is important for both holders of interstate capacity and asset managers and should provide more flexibility for parties to structure their transactions. Norton Rose … Continue Reading
On September 22, 2015, the CFTC issued a “supplemental” proposed rulemaking (the “2015 Proposal”) to revise its long-pending proposal on aggregation for position limit purposes published in November 2013 (the “2013 Proposal”). The 2015 Proposal, if finalized, would provide companies with over 50% ownership or equity interest in affiliated entities with an easier mechanism to … Continue Reading
On August 3, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued its final Clean Power Plan, which announces new standards and emission guidelines to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. The plan takes into account input received through EPA outreach to the power industry and its regulators, as well as from the over four million comments … Continue Reading
On May 18, 2015, the CFTC published in the Federal Register its final revised 7-part Interpretation regarding “forward contracts with embedded volumetric optionality.” The final guidance provides useful clarification in determining when a contract with an embedded volumetric option qualifies for the forward contract exclusion from the “swap” and “future delivery” definitions under the Commodity … Continue Reading
On May 7, 2015, the CFTC published in the Federal Register a proposal to eliminate the odd-yet-burdensome Form TO, which for the past two years has been required of derivatives end-users to report certain information to the CFTC regarding their trading in commodity trade options. If the proposal is adopted as final after the close … Continue Reading
On November 7, 2014, the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Derivatives Regulators Group (ODRG), consisting of derivatives market regulators (referred to as “Principals”) from Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Ontario, Quebec, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States (CFTC and SEC) issued a report updating the G20 Leaders on certain cross-border issues associated with the G20’s … Continue Reading
On November 3, 2014, the CFTC approved a proposal to revise the often confusing “seven-part” test for forward contracts with embedded volume options that the CFTC announced in its final product definition rules (77 Fed. Reg. 48,208). The CFTC offered the seven-part test as a clarification to help commercial market participants distinguish routine physical forward … Continue Reading
On November 3, the CFTC proposed what new Chairman Timothy Massad described as “further fine-tuning of our rules” to avoid “unintended consequences on . . . nonfinancial commercial companies . . . .” This post addresses the CFTC’s proposals regarding: 1) recordkeeping requirements; and 2) the deadline for posting “residual interest.” Recordkeeping requirements The CFTC … Continue Reading
The CFTC’s pending re-proposed speculative position limits and position aggregation rulemakings (the “Re-Proposal”), like its previous rules that were vacated by a federal district court, represent a radical departure from the CFTC’s past position limits precedents in several respects. In some instances, the Re-Proposal acknowledges this change in course and attributes it to the mandates … Continue Reading
