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NIBA Journal

Insights, analysis, and updates from the National Introducing Brokers Association

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Marketing
2 min read

An Economic Overview & Outlook: Kansas City and the Nation | Summer Conference Presentation Summary

Kelly Edmiston will present “Economic Conditions in the U.S. and Kansas City Region.” The presentation will begin with a discussion of recent output in the U.S. economy and provide a near-term outlook based on publicly available Federal Reserve projections and a consensus of leading forecasters across the country. The discussion will then turn to a detailed discussion of labor market trends and outlook in both the U.S. as a whole and in the Kansas City area specifically. A number of interesting trends are shaping the labor market outlook, and several of these are rather unique to the recent recession, aptly termed the “Great Recession” by many, and its anemic recovery. The unemployment rate will be discussed, but also the inability of the headline unemployment rate to fully capture the state of the labor market. Alternative indicators will then be presented that Edmiston argues provide a more complete labor market picture....

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Marketing
2 min read

New SAR Filing Requirements

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) recently made some changes to its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing requirements that will likely impact an IB’s AML program. Specifically, beginning July 1, 2012, any financial institution, including an IB, filing a SAR must do so electronically through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System. According to FinCEN, E-Filing will enhance the quality of FinCEN’s electronic data, improve its capabilities in supporting law enforcement and increase cost efficiencies. There is no charge for using the BSA E-Filing System. FinCEN has indicated, however, that firms that file a SAR in paper form after the July 1 deadline may be subject to a civil monetary penalty of up to $500 for each improperly filed form. In order to file a SAR through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System, an IB must be enrolled as a BSA E-filer. Information on how to enroll, including an E-Filing webinar, is available at http://www.fincen.gov/forms/e-filing/index.html....

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Marketing
1 min read

Register for Kansas City Marketing & Sales Event Now!

The Summer NIBA Meeting, co-sponsored by the Kansas City Board of Trade is scheduled for Thursday, June 21 at the KCBT. Coffee and registration begins at 1:15pm. Business sessions begin at 2pm. A networking/cocktail reception will follow immediately. Program details are found here, and include 3 great presentations by 4 great speakers - Bryce Anderson | Meteorist for Telvent DTN, Kelly Edmiston | Sr. Economist for the Federal Reserve Board, KC, Jennifer Sunu | Director, Audits & Investigations, NFA and Neal Stevens | Attorney, Schuyler, Roche & Crisham Early registration for NIBA and KCBT Board Members is complimentary. After Monday, June 18 there is a $25.00 late charge fee for everyone including walk-ins. For more information, contact Melinda Schramm, melinda@futuresrep.com. » REGISTER NOW

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Marketing
2 min read

NIBA Summer Marketing & Sales Event Hosted at the Kansas City Board of Trade

On June 21, 2012, the Kansas City Board of Trade will host the NIBA Summer Marketing and Sales Event. Registration and coffee open at 1:15pm and the business sessions begin at 2:00pm. A cocktail reception will follow immediately. The Kansas City Board of Trade, established near one of the world's most fertile growing regions, is the largest free market for hard red winter wheat. Prices negotiated at the KCBT are the benchmark for wheat prices around the world. The KCBT was founded in 1856 and 20 years later a "grain call," similar to wheat futures trading as it is known today, was established. The exchange has become an international market force, influencing wheat prices in Australia and Argentina as well as Kansas and Oklahoma. The exchange set new annual volume records in 2011 for Hard Red Winter wheat futures and for the exchange as a whole. A total of 6,582,673...

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Marketing
2 min read

The Vanishing FCM…

Opinion piece by Richard Strait | Strait, LLC Over the past 7-10 years the FCM community has contracted exponentially to just a handful of providers. While many reasons for this can be cited, those that stand out are the increased costs of the regulatory compliance and increased capital requirements, coupled with skyrocketing regulatory haircuts levied on that capital and lower revenues. While the electronic market place has increased the cost efficiency of the Exchanges and their member firms, Capital “haircuts” on customer segregated funds alone may reach 10% in the near future while only five years ago they were as low as 4%. Many FCMs, particularly those who are subsidiary companies of larger firms and banks, must now go back to the parent for additional capital. Although the cost of money to the banking community is at record lows, parent firms may require 5% or more for the regulatory capital...

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Marketing
1 min read

It's Still a Weather Market | Summer Conference Presentation Summary

In an era of surging world commodity demand and continual tight supplies, weather happenings both in the U.S. and in such global production areas as Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, and China have the market’s attention on a day-to-day basis. DTN senior ag meteorologist Bryce Anderson will discuss the impact of such features as floods and drought on the market’s psyche. He will also review the latest trends in the Pacific regarding El Nino/La Nina and offer an up-to-date forecast for the rest of the 2012 growing season in northern hemisphere crop regions. A review of crop weather patterns in the southern hemisphere along with a first look at the 2012-13 growing season prospects in South America will also be covered in this wide-ranging session. Bryce Anderson will be speaking at the NIBA Conference, June 21 at the Kansas City Board of Trade. He can be contacted at Bryce.Anderson@telventdtn.com. The Opinions expressed...

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Marketing
4 min read

Conflict of Interest Rules

Conflict of Interest The CFTC has adopted Rule 1.71. The Rule pertains to Conflict of Interest and will require most CFTC registered firms to implement a “Chinese wall” between the research department and non-research departments, and will therefore mainly impact the business trading unit or clearing units at futures commission merchants and introducing brokers, as applicable. The rule goes into effect June 4, 2012. Specifically, the CFTC put restrictions on who may have a relationship with the research department, who may communicate with the research department, and how the compensation for research analysts may be determined. Furthermore, there are new disclosure requirements for research reports, a prohibition of the promise of favorable research, and a prohibition on retaliation against research analysts for unfavorable research reports. In order for small IBs to have a more manageable level of burden in meeting any conflict of interest requirement, the CFTC has implemented an...

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Marketing
2 min read

Recap: “Forex Exchange Traded or Cash?” - April 18, 2012, New York City Conference

The kick-off session at the April 18, Spring NIBA meeting in New York City was concentrated on Forex Transactions. The panel was sponsored by the CME Group and included Craig LeVeille, Executive Director, FX Products, CME Group, Steven Hatzakis, Steven Joseph Hatzakis, CTA and Raphael Savrnoch, Vice-President, Business Development, Alpari US. In the audience interactive discussion, we focused on four specific areas: 1. FX Market Developments in General 2. Challenges with both Forex OTC and Forex Futures 3. Reasons to Trade Spot FX On-Exchange 4. Reasons to Trade FX Off-Exchange The panel reported results of recent surveys which indicate that Spot Forex appears to be the most popular and fastest growing segment of foreign exchange. Spot FX on-exchange offers the reputation and creditworthiness of an exchanged-traded product, while off-exchange FX can provide the customized contract sizes and competitive pricing desired by some traders. From either point of view, the point...

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Marketing
2 min read

Bylaw 1101 Implications of the Recent CFTC Part 4 Changes

Recently, the CFTC issued rules to eliminate the 4.13(a)(4) exemption and add marketing and trading restrictions to the 4.5 exemption that exempted certain pool operators from registering as a CPO. Although the effective date of the 4.5 changes is still pending, entities that currently hold 4.13(a)(4) exemptions will only remain exempt until December 31, 2012. Prior to that date, exempt CPOs will need to consider whether their trading activities will qualify for an alternative exemption or whether they will need to become registered as a CPO. Another of the recently adopted changes requires an annual reaffirmation of the remaining exemptions. Exempt pool operators will have 60 days after the calendar year-end to complete the reaffirmation process. Failure to reaffirm an exemption will result in the automatic withdraw of the exemption after the 60 days. Pursuant to NFA Bylaw 1101, all NFA Members have the obligation to ensure that they are...

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Marketing
1 min read

TelventDTN Market Update

DTN ProphetX is the flagship technical analysis and trading package offered by TelventDTN. In serving DTN ProphetX customers around the globe, we see new requirements every day. The software must handle higher volumes in just about all markets. We also continue to encounter new demands for data and specialized product capabilities. In meeting these challenges, we continue to add access to futures markets around the globe as well as adding more and more cash pricing data in grains, energies, industrial goods and more. Through periodic releases of the software, new features are added regularly.  We continue to add content and enhance our award winning news and weather delivery, and back it all up with world class technical support. Find more information about DTN ProphetX and the rest of the TelventDTN suite of products at http://www.telvent.com/en/business_areas/   The Opinions expressed are the opinions of the author. The opinions, the trading styles,...

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