NFA to Talk Directly to Futures & Commodities Community

On Tuesday March 2 the National Futures Association (“NFA”) is hosting a regulatory seminar for members of the commodity and futures markets.  The seminar will focus on a number of important issues including the following:

• Overview and Discussion of Regulatory Changes
• Disclosure Document and Performance Reporting
• Financial Reporting for Commodity Pools
• Sale Practices
• NFA Audit Process

There are a number of items which I am particularly interested in hearing about from the NFA staff.  Specifically, I am interested to hear their thoughts on the disclosure document review process which is no where near uniform or expedient.  I am also eager to hear how the NFA views their audit process as I have seen a few of these lately and have many questions as to why the NFA pursued the matter in certain ways.  One of the biggest issues I believe is uniformity and I think this should be a focus for the NFA in the coming year.  It is always frustrating to have a so-called “moving target” and to not be able to provide clients with better guidance in terms of NFA timing.

Below is a more detailed outline of the seminar which can also be found here.

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Registration for National Futures Association’s

Commodity Pool Operator/Commodity Trading Advisor Regulatory Seminar

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

UBS Conference Center

Chicago, Illinois

In light of the economic upheaval that has dramatically affected the financial markets, the regulatory landscape for Commodity Pool Operators and Commodity Trading Advisors is changing. To help our CPO and CTA Members stay current with their regulatory requirements, NFA will host a CPO/CTA Regulatory Seminar on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 in Chicago. The seminar will be held at the UBS Conference Center, One North Wacker Drive.

The seminar will focus on several CPO/CTA issues, including new and pending legislation, recent additions to financial reporting requirements and common errors made in promotional material and disclosure documents. The seminar will also outline the NFA audit process and discuss common audit deficiencies.

Seminar Agenda (subject to change)

7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Session One: The Current State of CPO/CTA Regulation

A panel of NFA staff and other industry professionals will discuss the results of recent CFTC/SEC harmonization, hedge fund regulation, and the status of pending legislation.

• Moderator: Tom Sexton, Senior Vice-President, General Counsel and Secretary, NFA
• Panelists: Dan Driscoll, Executive Vice-President, Chief Operating Officer, NFA
• David Kavanagh, President, Dearborn Capital Management
• Lance A. Zinman, Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

9:30 – 9:45 a.m. Refreshment Break

9:45 – 10:45 a.m. Session Two: Disclosure Document and Performance Reporting

NFA staff will discuss common errors CPOs and CTAs make when filing their Disclosure Documents with NFA, the deficiencies cited in most Disclosure Document comment letters and common performance reporting deficiencies.

• Panelists: David Matteson, Partner, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Amanda Olear, Attorney-Advisor, CFTC
• Lisa Tamburini, General Counsel, AlphaMetrix LLC
• Patricia Cushing, Associate Director, Compliance, NFA
• Kaitlan Chi, Manager, Compliance, NFA

10:45 – 12:00 p.m. Session Three: Pool Financial Reporting

NFA staff will outline the new expanded reporting requirements and demonstrate how to file the additional information electronically with NFA. This session will also cover the prohibition on general partner loans, CFTC financial reporting rule changes and pool reporting requirements for forex CPOs and CTAs.

• Panelists: Eileen Chotiner, Senior Compliance Analyst, CFTC
• James W. Laures, Director, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• David Young, President, Spectrum Global Fund Administration, LLC
• Tracey Hunt, Senior Manager, Compliance, NFA

12:00 – 1:45 p.m. Lunch

• Keynote Speaker: Michael Dunn, Commissioner, CFTC
• Introduced by: Dan Roth, President and CEO, NFA

1:45 – 2:45 p.m. Session Four: Sales Practices

NFA staff along with other experts will discuss common promotional material deficiencies and the new Social Networking interpretive notice.

• Moderator/Panelist: John Lothian, President & CEO, John J. Lothian & Company, Inc.
• Panelist: Natalie Peters, Director of Investor Relations, DigiLog Capital LLC
• Alexandra Shipovskikh, Manager, Compliance, NFA
• Dorothy Bobak, Senior Analyst, Compliance, NFA

2:45 – 3:00 p.m. Refreshment Break

3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Session Five: The NFA Audit Process

This session will provide an overview of the NFA audit process, highlighting new areas of focus such as FAS 157 hierarchy, valuation policies, side pocket investments, side letters/preferred redemptions and strategy promotion. The panel will also discuss common audit deficiencies.

• Panelist: Roxanne Bennett, Director, Price Asset Management
• Jennifer Sunu, Director, Audits, NFA
• Matt Pendell, Manager, Compliance, NFA

Registration

The fee for attending this seminar is $100 per person for NFA Members and $150 for non-Members. The fee includes all seminar sessions, continental breakfast, refreshment breaks and lunch.

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February 16, 2010

CFTC Commissioner Michael Dunn to be keynote speaker at NFA’s CPO/CTA Regulatory Seminar

CFTC Commissioner Michael Dunn will be the keynote speaker at NFA’s CPO/CTA Regulatory Seminar on Tuesday, March 2 in Chicago. The day-long seminar will focus on several CPO/CTA issues, including new and pending legislation, recent additions to financial reporting requirements and common errors made in promotional material and disclosure documents. The seminar will also outline the NFA audit process and discuss common audit deficiencies.

There’s still time to register to attend the seminar. The cost is $100 for NFA Members and $150 for non-Members. The fee includes all workshop materials, continental breakfast, refreshment breaks and lunch.

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Other related hedge fund law blog posts include:

• CPO Annual Report Filing Overview
• CTA and CPO Registration and Compliance Guide
• How to Register as a CTA or CPO

Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides hedge fund information and manager registration services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP. He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.