The Division of Market Oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has criticised futures exchange ICE Futures US for its failings with regards to its compliance systems. In its recently published rule enforcement on the matter, the CFTC division claims that ICE staff cuts and a lack of investment in compliance automation meant that the exchange was unable to adequately comply with core principles relating to audit trail, trade practice surveillance, disciplinary and dispute resolution programmes.
Sydney-based risk management technology and consulting solution vendor Razor Risk Technologies has added a new face to its Australian team in the form of ex-Westpac risk exec John Goodacre, who joins as programme director. The vendor has also promoted current senior risk consultant for the Americas region, Franklin Robinson, to the position of unit president for the region.
Many US firms are taking action to get ready early for the introduction of XBRL tags for financial statements later this year, according to a recent survey by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and standards body XBRL US. A total of 73% of the 215 respondents had already begun their testing for the XBRL format in November last year, when the survey was carried out. Moreover, the majority of respondents, at 93%, had at least a basic knowledge of XBRL.
It has been a rough few months for Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, but it seems that his future at the helm of the US central bank is secure for another four years. Bernanke, who has been an active proponent of mark to market accounting rules, among other things, was re-elected by the Senate to serve another term in office, despite weeks of criticism and uncertainty.
This week the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has added another set of proposals to its regulatory to do list, this time in the form of new reporting requirements for money market funds. The rules, should they be passed, would require these funds to regularly report their net asset value (NAV) to the regulator, a turnaround from the current situation where these funds are often treated in a similar manner to cash and carry a steady value of US$1 a share. The proposals are likely to prove unpopular with the market as a whole and would entail a data challenge in tracking pricing and valuations data on a monthly basis, as well as impose changes to the way ratings data is used and introduce new stress testing requirements.
January seems to be turning into the month for senior staff attrition at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); not only has ex-associate director of the enforcement division Fredric Firestone left the building (see 
A-Team Insight Exchange is a new event series for 2010, which will combine A-Team’s expertise in financial markets IT with thought leadership from world-class technology innovators and practical experience from financial market practitioners.
As part of its endeavour to establish itself as a clearing counterparty (CCP) in the OTC derivatives market, CME Group has this month selected two pricing solutions to support its CCP’s credit default swap (CDS) pricing and intraday risk management services: CMA’s DataVision and Fitch Solutions’ CDS Pricing Service. Anna Mazzone, vice president of product management and marketing at CMA, explains to A-Team Insight how DataVision will support CME Group’s OTC CDS Clearing service.
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