The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said futures and swaps brokers do not need to register as advisers to comply with a new set of European Union securities rules.
The package of regulations, Europe's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, requires some investment managers to make separate payments for research and execution at brokers. While equity brokers and research firms have for months sought how best to comply with the rules, MiFID II also applies to futures and credit default swap brokers overseen by the CFTC.
Futures commission merchants, swap dealers or introducing brokers do not need to register as a commodity trading adviser as long as the advice or research they provide is "solely incidental" to the futures merchants' or swap dealers' business or "solely in connection with" the introducing brokers' business.
