In the US, the fourth quarter has seen the release of some heavily anticipated rulemakings, including final rules on commodity position limits and proposals for the Volcker Rule limitations for banking organizations on proprietary trading activities and restrictions on relationships with hedge funds or private equity funds. Also of note, regulators finalised new reporting requirements for registered investment advisers to private funds that will assist the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) in monitoring systemic risk in the US financial system.

In Europe, a barrage of legislative proposals has been published by the European Commission. They range from rules on market structure and transparency to obligations of investors to disclose interests in issuers. It will be a big effort for the industry and policy makers alike to keep on top of all developments. Meanwhile, the discussion on European rules on short selling and CDS has come to an end, with the European Parliament and the Council having come to a provisional agreement.

Form PF
In late October, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a rule requiring investment advisers that advise one or more private funds to complete “Form PF,” which will enable regulators to collect systemic risk data about hedge funds and other private funds.