IN-PERSON CLASSROOM SEMINARS

• Regulation of OTC derivatives - regulatory landscape:
• CFTC - granted tremendous new powers under the Act.
• SEC - responsible for overseeing securities based swaps.
• FERC - also policing energy markets.
• FTC - monitoring for market manipulation in crude oil trading.
• How we got here - an overview of derivatives regulation.
• How can market participants ensure compliance in a multi-agency regulatory environment?
• Is there a danger of regulatory arbitrage?
• Is there a jurisdictional overlap and what are the risks of having one?
• How to manage a regulatory overlap risk?
• Does the OTC market become extinct under the Act?
• Key rulemaking for physical and financial energy market participants:
• Definitions of some key terms in energy trading arena including, but not limited to swap, commercial risk, bona fide hedge, end user, major swap participant, swap dealer, eligible contract participant, swap execution facility, derivatives clearing organizations, swap data repository, and many more.
• How can energy market participants influence the rule making process?
• End user v. major swap participant - risks and benefits between the two classifications.
• What is a bona fide hedge - as defined by CFTC?
• Mandatory clearing for standardized swaps - anachronism in OTC markets.
• Is hedging going to be cost-prohibitive for some market participants?
• Is physical hedging going to replace financial hedges?
• Position limits - risks and rewards
• Significant price discovery rule and the exemptions from it.
• The affiliate rule - what is it and how will it affect position limit reporting?
• Cross-product implementation - a loophole in the Act?
• How will exchanges enforce the limits?
• Can a one-size-fits-all approach work in derivatives markets?
• Will position limits discourage hedging and increase volatility?
• What every front office and middle office manager needs to do now to implement Dodd-Frank.
• Key steps required to ensure that all traders and originators are familiar, and stay compliant, with the products and markets they trade, including applicable exchange rules and protocols.
• How to ensure that all transactions are analyzed before they are committed to by decomposing the transaction into its associated risk components.
• Verifying that valuation models and analysis of all commodity related transactions are independent of the trading function.
• Creating and implementing programs to ensure that all traders and originators abide and stay current with the trading policies and procedures, including applicable position limits, trading strategies, and approved products.
• How to ensure that all position reports accurately reflect the underlying risk(s), as well as the underlying operational and financial strategies.
• When and how to make the necessary changes to the trading or risk policy in order to ensure that the policy properly reflects and encompasses the underlying rules and regulations governing commodity and derivatives trading and related activities.
• Key steps in mandatory swap reporting.

• What every Risk Oversight Committee needs to know and do to implement Dodd-Frank
• Is there a sufficient infrastructure to implement the necessary compliance steps?
• Is there a clearly defined appetite for risk, from an enterprise viewpoint?
• How to identify and implement all appropriate approvals for trading strategies, products, position limits, VaR, and markets.
• How to ensure that there is sufficient emphasis on creating and maintaining a culture of compliance both internally and externally.
• Determining if there is clear and consistent enforcement, including appropriate sanctions for violating policies and procedures.
• Trading v. clearing: understanding the differences.
• Swap Execution Facilities - what are they and how will they work?
• Derivatives Clearing Organizations - mandatory clearing for standardized swaps.
• How will liquidity be affected by mandatory clearing?
• Margin requirements - who decides and how?
• Will physical assets be an acceptable form of collateral?
• Core principles for derivatives clearing organizations.
• Segregation requirements for uncleared swaps.
• Registration and regulation of major swap participants and swap dealers.
• Reviewing and amending the standard trading and credit documentation as well as trading policies and procedures in order to ensure adequate compliance.
• What are the best practices for creating and implementing trading and risk policies and procedures?
• What are critical provisions in trading and risk policies and procedures?
• How to create and implement adequate training to ensure ongoing compliance with trading and risk policies and procedures.
• Are ISDA master agreements becoming obsolete?
• What are "Special Entities" under the Act?
• What implications will the Act have on credit, collateral, and margin documentation, especially in light of credit rating agencies' potential liability?
• How will the Act affect physically settled master agreements such as NAESB, EEI, and WSPP?
• Broker agreements - will they change and how?
• Identifying, quantifying, and managing operational and financial risk to utilities and load serving entities from Dodd-Frank.
• Operational reliability - will it suffer because of the Act?
• Resource planning - how to account for margin costs.
• Fuel hedging - who will bear the risk?
• Long-term hedging - key issues for management and regulators.
• Anti-abusive market practices - more burdens on asset based companies.
• Renewable energy - key issues and solutions for illiquid products.
• Cash flow- bond covenants and grandfathered provisions.
• The cost of compliance implementation - another residential rate hike?
• Will physically settled options, bookouts, heat-rate spark spreads, and similar products fall under the definition of swap?

Mr. Miki Kolobara, Esq.
Mr. Miki Kolobara, Esq. is the managing attorney at Kolobara Law Firm, LLC. He practices primarily in commodities and derivatives trading law with particular emphasis on energy trading, risk management, and compliance. Prior to founding Kolobara Law Firm, Mr. Kolobara spent 15 years working for several large energy companies where he assisted in creating and implementing trading policies and procedures, drafting standard trading and credit documentation, and training front and middle office personnel about legal and contractual aspects of energy trading. He has negotiated hundreds of master agreements and documentation for physical and financial transactions, as well as structured transactions for natural gas, electricity, coal, LNG, crude oil, and emissions allowances. Mr. Kolobara serves on the Futures and Derivatives Law Committee of the American Bar Association, as well as the North American Energy Standards Board's contracting committee where he participated in drafting the NAESB standard master agreement for natural gas trading. Additionally, Mr. Kolobara is active in the International Energy Credit Associations' Contracts and Legal committee and its Dodd-Frank Act working group. As a member of the WSPP contracting committee, Mr. Kolobara participated in drafting of the WSPP standard master agreement for electricity trading. Mr. Kolobara is a frequent speaker on topics related to energy trading, hedging, risk management, and compliance.

This two-day seminar will be held at the hotels listed below or can be conducted on-site at your facilities. The seminar will start promptly at 8:00 AM and will finish at 4:30 PM on the first day. On the second day, the seminar will resume at 8:00 AM and will finish at 12:00 PM (noon). The program includes continental breakfast, lunch, and coffee/cookie breaks. Attendees also receive a professionally produced seminar manual that can serve as a valuable office reference. Dress is casual for all seminars.

COVID 19 Information: Please click here for the PGS Covid-19 policy. You can confirm each hotel's specific COVID 19 policy using the link(s) provided below.

The price for this comprehensive two-day seminar is $1,595 (USD).

Payment is due prior to the start of the seminar by Visa, Master Card, American Express, or corporate check. Seminar fees will be charged to your credit card at the time of registration unless other arrangements have been made. Please make checks payable to "PGS Energy Training" 26 Teal Lane • Hilton Head Island, SC 29926. Cancellations will result in a credit that is good for 2 years which can be transferred to a colleague. Substitutions may be made at any time. For more information on PGS policies regarding administrative matters and complaint resolution, please contact our offices at (843) 212-4038.

This live group seminar is eligible for 11.0 CPE credits. Be aware that state boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. As of January 1, 2002, sponsored learning activities are measured by program length, with one 50-minute period equal to one CPE credit. One-half CPE credit increments (equal to 25 minutes) are permitted after the first credit has been earned in a given learning activity. You may want to verify that the state board from which your participants will be receiving credit accept one-half credits.