Source: National Futures Association
National Futures Association (NFA) and BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP - News), ("BGC Partners," "BGC," or "the Company"), a leading global brokerage company primarily servicing the wholesale financial markets, today announced that they have entered into an agreement that paves the way for NFA to perform regulatory services for BGC's planned swap execution facility (SEF).
The Agreement establishes a preliminary framework for the exchange of information and the development of technology standards that will enable BGC and NFA to develop, test and launch automated trade practice and surveillance systems and also to develop procedures and processes necessary for BGC to fulfill its SEF self-regulatory obligations. Upon the issuance of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) final SEF rules, NFA and BGC anticipate that they will enter into a formal Regulatory Services Agreement.
Under the Dodd-Frank Act and the rules and regulations currently being written by the CFTC, SEFs will have surveillance and other regulatory responsibilities. The CFTC has proposed to allow SEFs to contract with a registered futures association, such as NFA, or another registered entity for regulatory services.
"This is a significant step forward as we engage in new regulatory activity on behalf of SEFs. For over ten years, NFA has been successfully performing trade practice and market surveillance functions on behalf of futures exchanges," said NFA President Daniel J. Roth . "We look forward to working with BGC as we enhance our surveillance systems to assist BGC and other SEFs in meeting their regulatory responsibilities."