Financial Regulatory Forum

By Patricia Lee

NEW YORK, May 23 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – The massive losses which resulted from JPMorgan Chase hedging its positions against derivatives has once again cast the spotlight on the Volcker Rule and whether systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) are too big to fail, industry observers said. Questions have also been raised about the firm’s hedging strategy, and what constitutes hedging in the first place.

Industry officials in Asia suggested that JPMorgan’s $2 billion hedging losses might embolden regulators to strengthen the Volcker Rule, on the premise that it would be of benefit to SIFIs. The rule, named after former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, forms part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and has proposed the separation of proprietary trading from commercial banking activity. Most notably, it has argued against investing in derivatives or using derivatives as a hedge on investments. The rule has, however, faced strong opposition from many of the large global financial institutions. (more…)

By Nick Paraskeva

NEW YORK, Dec. 16 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) – Several recently adopted rules in the U.S. are going into effect for specific types of firms in 2012. These rules include ones released by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Federal Reserve, issued to implement the Dodd-Frank Act and as a response to market developments.

The SEC-adopted rules requiring reporting by advisers to hedge funds and by large traders of securities are explained below. We also cover the CFTC final rules on derivative clearing firms in the swaps market and provide a summary of the Fed’s final rules on living wills for large banks, and non-bank systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), under the Dodd-Frank Act. (more…)