Resources

The FCA recently outlined its expectations for trading firms on off-channel communications, covering governance, surveillance, vendors, MI, and training. This article examines what this might mean for energy and commodity traders.

ARERA has publishes a report on Market Integrity in the Italian Day-Ahead Electricity Market (2023–2024) which identifies potential economic withholding across all generation technologies.

FERC fines Green Plains for alleged cross-market manipulation in natural gas trading during bidweek at the MichCon hub in early 2023.

Ofgem has published its first dedicated guidance on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the UK energy sector.

ESMA has published a Consultation Paper on proposed amendments to the clearing thresholds regime under the EMIR 3 Regulation.

The EU energy agency ACER published its 30th REMIT Q&A update, aligning guidance with REMIT II and expanding obligations for hydrogen and LNG.

The French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) fined Danske Commodities A/S and Equinor ASA a combined €12 million for gas capacity auction market manipulation.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has updated its analysis on money laundering risks in wholesale markets, highlighting key compliance gaps and best practices.

FERC fines a battery storage operator $3.47 million for violating CAISO tariff rules through misreporting and uneconomic market gains.

The EU Council adopted the final EMIR 3 text to strengthen clearing requirements, reduce reliance on non-EU CCPs, and improve EU financial stability.

The CNMC fined Neuro Energía €1.1M for manipulating Spain's intraday electricity market by submitting non-genuine bids to distort supply-demand dynamics.

ACER has issued new REMIT 2 guidance, clarifying obligations for non-EU market participants and PPAETs, focusing on registration and reporting rules.

ASIC, the Australian financial regulator, has published its annual report on greenwashing misconduct and the related regulatory interventions by ASIC covering its financial year.

The FIA and ACM provide crucial insights into algorithmic trading including in relation to wholesale energy markets, emphasizing compliance, REMIT 2, and MiFID 2 regulations.

The CFTC has issued an enforcement order stemming from a Whistleblower action against Trafigura Trading LLC for multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulations.

ASIC, the Australian financial regulator, has fined JP Morgan AUD $775,000 for allowing suspicious Client orders in wheat futures to be placed on the ASX 24 futures market.

With REMIT 2 being published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 17 April 2024, ACER has marked this milestone by publishing initial guidance in the form of an Open Letter.

The US DOJ has announced that a large commodity trader was fined USD $126 million after pleading guilty to breaching anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

IOSCO has published an update to their 2011 “Principles for the Regulation and Supervision of Commodity Derivatives Markets” to help prevent manipulation and abusive trading schemes”.

The CFTC has issued a Request for Comment (RFC) seeking industry input on the definition and applications of AI in financial markets covering a broad spectrum of AI use.

The UK financial regulator has proposed a comprehensive set of changes to the regulatory framework around commodity derivatives trading with a significant focus on a new position limit regime as well as changes to the ancillary activity test which sets the regulatory perimeter for commodity traders under the UK MiFID 2 rules.

Boliden Odda AS was fined NOK 5,000,000 by the Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority for market manipulation in the Norwegian part of the mFRR power market.

The CFTC has published its 2023 Whistleblower report to Congress providing detailed insights into trends around this important topic and stakeholder group.

The Joint Energy Associations Group issued an updated response to the proposed EMIR 3 changes put forward by MEPs in the European Parliament regarding the EMIR clearing threshold. .

The CFTC and SEC has issued a cumulative $555 million in fines to 12 firms for the pervasive unauthorised use of offline communications to conduct regulated business.

The Spanish National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has fined Naturgy Generación SLU (Naturgy) €EUR 6 million for manipulating electricity prices.

The European Council has reached general agreement on the proposed updates to REMIT following the EU Commission’s original proposed changes under the EU Electricity Market Design reforms package.

OFAC announced a settlement with Poloniex, a digital assets trading platform, for sanctions violations allowing customers apparently located in sanctioned jurisdictions to engage in online digital asset-related transactions consisting of trades, deposits, and withdrawals.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) released several important updates to its policies related to corporate crime enforcement and compliance programmes. We review each of the updates in further detail.

This week’s RegTrail Insights reviews further changes to the EMIR regulation and how it will affect NFC firms in particular.

RegTrail considers the 6 new principles added in the IOSCO update and the implications for compliance.

RegTrail provides key takeaways following the release of two reports examining whether the EU gas price cap or MCM has had any “pre-impact” on traded markets.