| 2.16.2010 |  | MFA submitted comments to the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure on the proposed amendment to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019, Disclosure Regarding Creditors and Equity Security Holders in Chapter 9 and Chapter 11 Cases. MFA supports providing a bankruptcy court with greater transparency with respect to a creditor’s committee’s economic interests, but believe that amended Rule 2019 should not compel public disclosure of the date and price at which a party acquired its bankruptcy claim. MFA supports deletion of the disclosure requirements for the time and price at which a party acquired its economic interest. |
| 2.9.2010 | | International management consultancy Oliver Wyman published a report today that provides the first clear evidence that rules requiring public disclosure of short positions make it more expensive and difficult for all participants to invest in equity markets. The report finds that the public short sale disclosure regime in effect in the United Kingdom has caused: (i) bid-ask spreads for UK stocks subject to disclosure to widen by over 45%, (ii) total trading volume in affected UK stocks – including long trades – to decrease by 13%, and (iii) short selling liquidity to be impaired by approximately 20%. Together, these effects limit the ability of businesses to raise capital and create jobs, and raise costs for pension funds, retail funds, and other investors. Click here to read MFA's news release about the report. Click here to read a description of the report. |
| 10.6.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the SEC today in response to its proposal to, among other things, restrict political contributions by an investment adviser and its employees to officials of a government entity for which the adviser provides investment management services, and prohibit an adviser from paying a third party firm to solicit a government entity on its behalf. In our letter we recommend that the Commission: (i) narrowly tailor its proposals to prevent activities more likely to involve “pay to play” practices; (ii) amend the proposal to include appropriate terms for unintentional political contributions; and (iii) permit advisers to engage third party placement agents to solicit government entities, and adopt alternative rules that would more effectively address “pay to play” practices while allowing all advisers to compete for government clients. |
| 10.5.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the IRS in response to IRS Notice 2009-62, which requests comments and recommendations concerning the compliance requirements for Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (commonly referred to as “FBAR”). In our letter, we identify several issues relating to FBAR compliance and request guidance on how FBAR rules might apply to investments in hedge funds and similar private investment funds. |
| 10.1.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the SEC in response to its request for comments on the alternative uptick rule. Our letter supplements our June 22, 2009 letter on the SEC's proposed short sale restrictions. MFA opposes the proposed alternative uptick rule that would allow short selling only at a price above the current national best bid. We believe that such a test would operate as a near ban on short selling even in non-declining (neutral) markets, and further, that it would lead to unintended consequences and possible gaming. MFA urges the Commission to not adopt such a price test. |
| 9.25.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the SEC and the CFTC to supplement our September 3rd written statement for the joint meeting on harmonization of regulation. In our letter, MFA states that we believe the standard set in the Peavey Commodity Futures Fund SEC No-action letter to determine the primary business engagement of a fund for purposes of determining whether it is an investment company under section 3(b)(1) of the Investment Company Act is a fair and flexible standard for determining whether an adviser registered with the CFTC is primarily acting as an investment adviser pursuant to section 203(b)(6) of the Advisers Act. In addition, we believe the same analysis may be applied for purposes of determining whether an adviser registered with the SEC is primarily acting as a commodity trading advisor pursuant to section 4(m)(3) of the CEA. |
| 9.14.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the CFTC in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking, which was published on August 13, 2009, to create a separate account class for customer positions in cleared OTC derivatives. In our letter, MFA provides its support for the proposal because, in MFA’s view, the proposal: (i) would significantly mitigate counterparty risk and systemic risk; (ii) is necessary to ensure broad market support of customer clearing initiatives in light of alleged uncertainty; and (iii) is consistent with current policy objectives and some legislative proposals that include measures to protect customer positions and collateral in the context of central clearing. |
| 7.28.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission today in response to its proposed amendments to its custody rule, Rule 206(4)-2, under the Investment Advisers Act. In our letter, we recommend that the SEC require registered investment advisers to pooled investment vehicles with custody of client funds or securities to arrange for each pooled investment vehicle to be subject to an annual audit conducted by an independent public accountant registered with, and subject to inspection by, the PCAOB, and to distribute audited financial statements, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, to each investor in the fund. We also recommend that if the SEC were to require investment advisers to arrange for an annual surprise exam, it should clarify the procedures that an accounting firm must follow in performing the exam. |
| 7.9.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board today in response to the proposed FASB staff guidance (the “FSP”) on fair valuing investments in investment companies that have calculated net asset value per share in accordance with the AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide, Investment Companies. In our letter, MFA recommended that: (i) FASB adopt the practical expedient set out in the FSP as a permissive standard that would permit a reporting entity to estimate the value of its investment in an investment company within the scope of the FSP as the net asset value of that investment company; (ii) FASB consider modifying the disclosures required of reporting entities using the practical expedient to permit disclosure of aggregated investment positions, or, in the alternative, establish a materiality threshold for disclosures of individual investment positions; and (iii) FASB consider including a standard that a reporting entity should have a reasonable belief that the underlying investment company calculates its net asset value per share in accordance with the AICPA guide for the reporting entity to be able to use the practical expedient. |
| 6.25.2009 | | MFA submitted comments to National Futures Association in response to its request for comments on CPO quarterly reporting. MFA is supportive of the regulator’s goal to enhance its audit and compliance program. We offer a number of specific and technical comments in our letter. |
| 6.22.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the SEC in response to its request for comments on proposed short sale restrictions. MFA and its members believe the empirical data do not support the need for a short sale restriction, and that a short sale restriction would harm investors through decreased liquidity and pricing efficiency, and greater transaction costs. However, if the Commission determines that a short sale restriction is necessary and merited, we urge the Commission to consider a single security circuit breaker that triggers a modified uptick test as it would achieve the Commission’s objectives in the way least likely to cause market dislocation and other unintended consequences. |
| 6.17.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the CFTC today in response to its concept release on the bona fide hedge exemption for certain swap dealers. We recommend that the Commission consider the bona fide hedge exemption in the context of the broader OTC derivatives regulatory reform goals and objectives; seek more market data to understand the role and market impact of these bona fide hedge exemptions before it makes a determination on their elimination and/or replacement; propose rulemaking to require swap dealers and index traders to report OTC swap market transactions to the Commission on a permanent, ongoing basis; and provide the public with greater transparency with respect to OTC swap markets relating to commodity futures markets through aggregated reports. |
| 5.20.2009 | | MFA jointly with FIA, CME Group, ICE and NFA submitted a letter to the Federal Trade Commission regarding its “Prohibition of Energy Market Manipulation Rule.” We expressed concern that the proposed rule is not in accordance with the exclusive jurisdiction provision of the Commodity Exchange Act and would impose conflicting fraud standards on futures market professionals and participants. |
| 3.31.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter to the CFTC on proposed regulations regarding “Commodity Pool Operator Periodic Account Statements and Annual Financial Reports.” MFA provided comments on one aspect of the proposed regulations—the procedures for liquidating pools. |
| 3.23.2009 | | MFA submitted a letter in support of the CFTC’s proposed rulemaking regarding “Acknowledgment Letters for Customer Funds and Secured Amount Funds.” |
| 3.9.2009 | | On March 3rd, senior SEC officials spoke at MFA’s Legal and Compliance seminar. They announced, in person and in a follow-up letter, that as part of the SEC’s routine examinations, the SEC will be seeking confirmations from investors in hedge funds managed by registered advisers and from third-parties of cash and securities held by certain advised clients. |
| 2.24.2009 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the SEC on Nasdaq’s proposed rule change to adopt a modified Sponsored Access Rule, SR-Nasdaq-2008-104. |
| 2.10.2009 | | MFA submitted comments to the CFTC regarding its proposed rulemaking on significant price discovery contracts on exempt commercial markets. MFA applauds the CFTC’s proposed rules implementing the Reauthorization Act with respect to Significant Price Discovery Contracts and supports the CFTC’s approach of integrating rules for Exempt Commercial Markets trading Significant Price Discovery Contracts with those that apply to trading on other registered entities to the greatest degree possible. |
| 12.23.2008 | | MFA sent a letter to the IOSCO Technical Committee Short Selling Task Force providing comments to regulatory approaches to short selling. The focus of the Task Force is to develop principles for the regulation of short selling to establish a common international approach. |
| 12.23.2008 | | MFA submitted a letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, SEC and CFTC raising concerns regarding the protection and safeguarding of customers’ initial margin that they deposit with dealer financial institutions in connection with OTC derivatives trading. MFA’s submission followed meetings MFA held with financial regulators on the infrastructure issues related to the CDS market and proposals to establish one or more central counterparties for such market. |
| 12.18.2008 | | MFA submitted comments to FINRA on its Proposed Rule 2030 addressing the circulation of rumors. |
| 12.15.2008 | | MFA sent a letter to the SEC providing comments to the Commission’s interim final temporary rule on the disclosure of short sales and short positions by institutional investment managers. |
| 12.15.2008 | | MFA sent a letter to the SEC providing comments to the Commission’s interim final temporary rule on amendments to Reg SHO (Rule 204T). |
| 11.14.2008 | | MFA expressed its support for the announcement made today by the U.S. President’s Working Group on Financial Markets regarding measures intended to strengthen the oversight and infrastructure of the over-the-counter derivatives markets. |
| 10.31.2008 | | MFA, through its participation in the Operations Management Group (OMG), joined the 16 Major Dealers in presenting a letter to industry regulators that establishes a series of strategic roadmaps and seven high level goals to further improve front-to-back office processing of OTC derivatives and to mitigate risk across the OTC derivatives market. The letter reaffirmed the continued cooperation between the buy-side institutions of the OMG and the Major Dealers in confronting challenges posed by recent market events. The letter also addressed counterparty credit risk concerns by setting forth commitments regarding central counterparty clearing, electronic novation processing and collateral management. MFA issued a press release announcing the new commitments identified in the letter. |
| 10.15.2008 | | MFA sent a letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox with recommendations in response to the Commission’s concern that short selling of the stock of certain financial companies may be causing sudden and excessive fluctuations of the prices of such securities in such a manner so as to threaten fair and orderly markets. |
| 10.9.2008 | | MFA Commends SEC for Allowing the Emergency Orders on Short Selling to Expire |
| 10.1.2008 | | MFA sent a letter to the SEC urging the Commission to let the emergency orders on short selling, enacted on September 18th, to expire as announced on October 2. Click here to read MFA’s press release on the letter. |
| 9.22.2008 | | MFA announced today that it sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox on Sunday urging the Commission to amend the emergency orders it enacted on September 18th that ban short selling in 799 financial companies and require institutional investment managers to report on a weekly basis their daily short positions. |
| 9.21.2008 | | MFA’s comment letter to the SEC on the emergency orders to ban short sales. |
| 9.19.2008 | | MFA announced its opposition to the SEC’s dramatic step of enacting a temporary emergency ban on short selling in 799 financial companies and a temporary emergency order requiring institutional investment managers to report on a weekly basis their daily short positions. AIMA said in a news release today that the "Hedge Fund Industry Supports Achieving Stability in Markets, Cautions against Longer-Term Consequences of Short-Selling Rules." |
| 9.18.2008 | | MFA President and CEO Richard H. Baker said in a statement released today on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new rules governing short selling, “The SEC's actions and the actions of the FSA regarding short sales could result in hurting the markets that are actually functioning properly (equity and options markets), throwing them into disarray.” AIMA said in a news release today that the "Hedge Fund Industry Calls for Measured Approach in Dealing with Financial Market Volatility." |
| 8.29.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service regarding Temporary Regulation TD 9407, which, among other things, changes the automatic extension filing deadline for partnership tax returns from October 15th to September 15th. In MFA’s letter, MFA requests that the deadline revert back to October 15th because the new deadline will make accurate reporting exceedingly difficult for alternative investment partnerships due to the shorten timeframe in which they have to complete their tax-reporting process. |
| 8.22.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to SIFMA in connection with a proposal put forth by SIFMA for an "Optional Mini-Closeout Provision" Annex to the Master Repurchase Agreement (MRA). The Annex would give a non-defaulting party in a repo transaction an optional mini-closeout remedy in the event of a failed securities delivery. The Annex would also permit a non-failing party to margin a failure to deliver if it does not exercise its closeout remedy. MFA’s comment letter proposes that the template MRA (not an annex) should force parties to use the mini-closeout remedy, thus, making the mini-closeout process a standard term of the MRA in all repo transactions. A copy of MFA’s comment letter can been viewed here and a copy of MFA’s mark-up to the Annex can be viewed here. |
| 8.21.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the CFTC in response to the Commission’s request for comments on the CME and CBOT’s petition to exempt certain agricultural OTC swaps from certain provisions of Regulation 35.2. MFA supports the petition as we believe that the requested exemption will facilitate risk management, improve liquidity, enhance OTC market transparency, and reduce systemic risk. |
| 7.31.2008 | | MFA announced that it is joining the 17 major derivatives dealers as a signatory to a letter to global regulators that develops new commitments to improve operational efficiency across OTC derivatives, as well as commodities and foreign exchange markets and collateral management. Click here for a copy of the letter and click here for a copy of the supplement to the letter. |
| 7.30.2008 | | MFA and the Coalition of Private Investment Companies (CPIC) today voiced their joint concerns in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) decision to extend the emergency order on short selling for a second 10-ten day period, in effect until 11:59 pm on August 12, 2008. |
| 7.24.2008 | | MFA and the Coalition of Private Investment Companies (CPIC) today sent a letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox urging the Commission to not extend the emergency order on short selling beyond the announced expiration date of 11:59 pm on July 29, 2008, or beyond the current list of designated securities. |
| 6.23.2008 | | MFA, Futures Industry Association, New York Mercantile Exchange, and CME Group Inc. submit a comment letter to the Federal Trade Commission in response to the Commission’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking to prohibit market manipulation in the petroleum industry. |
| 6.13.2008 | | MFA submitted comments on the Best Practices Reports released by the two Committees appointed by the U.S. President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG). MFA's letter on the PWG Asset Managers' Committee Report MFA's letter on the PWG Investors' Committee Report |
| 6.4.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the SEC on FINRA’s rule 2810 with respect to trail commissions along with the prior letters MFA has sent to the SEC and NASD. |
| 5.29.2008 | | MFA submits a comment letter to the Canadian Securities Administrators on Canada’s registration reform proposal. |
| 5.20.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the SEC on its proposed exemption for investment companies investing in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The proposal would permit investment companies to invest in ETFs above the limits of section 12(d) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. MFA requested that the exemption be extended to 3(c)(1) and 3(c)(7) funds, as there is no policy rationale for distinguishing such funds from other investment companies for purposes of the proposed rule. |
| 5.16.2008 | | MFA filed a comment letter with the SEC, in response to the SEC''s proposed amendments to Part 2 of Form ADV. Although MFA was supportive of the SEC''s efforts to improve disclosure to advisory clients, we made several suggested amendments and requests for clarification. |
| 5.16.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on its proposed amendments to Regulation S-P, its rules regarding the privacy and safeguarding of consumer financial information. In the letter, MFA discussed the proposed standards for information security programs, including standards that would apply to data breach incidents, the proposed expansion of the definition of personal information under the safeguarding and disposal rules, and the proposed exception for limited customer information disclosure when representatives move from one broker-dealer or registered investment adviser to another. |
| 5.7.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter today to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in response to the CFTC's April 22, 2008 Agricultural Forum. |
| 2.27.2008 | | MFA submitted a comment letter to the Department of Labor in response to the Department’s proposed regulation on fee disclosure under section 408(b)(2) of ERISA. |
| 2.19.2008 | | MFA submits comments to FERC on PJM Interconnection LLC’s proposed tariff change. |
