Institute for Financial Markets
From MarketsWiki
| Institute for Financial Markets (IFM) | |
| |
| Founded | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Products | Nonprofit educational organization |
| Web site | www.theIFM.org |
The Institute for Financial Markets (IFM) is a nonprofit educational foundation that was founded in 1989. The IFM touts itself as a foundation that provides quality, unbiased information and education to increase public understanding of the importance of financial markets and financial service industry to the global economy and to improve the technical competence of those in the industry who deal with the public.
The IFM focuses its efforts in three core areas - education, ethics and data. It develops and delivers market-based educational programs, online training and data products that are used by financial industry professionals, investors, U.S. and international regulators, public-policy makers, and universities.
In addition, the IFM in cooperation with Kent State University sponsors special courses, and publishes the Review of Futures Markets.[1] The Review promotes global research and study of financial engineering, derivatives markets and products, and includes insightful articles that appeal to a high-level audience including exchange professionals, market practitioners, financial engineers and academics among others.
Contents |
Background
The IFM is an affiliate of the Futures Industry Association (FIA), but operates autonomously as an independent foundation. The Institute is governed by a board of trustees [2], separate and apart from the FIA Board of Directors. IFM Trustees are drawn from the principal segments of the financial industry and provide policy guidance and direction to the foundation's staff.
The Institute has no members and does not engage in any lobbying activities. It funds its activities and the development of new programs and services from two sources: the sale of its products and services and the generous support of a broad range of financial institutions, exchanges, brokerage firms and participants from a variety of market sectors. The Institute is exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and has been designated a publicly supported organization under Sections 509(a)(2) and 170 of the IRC. No taxable unrelated business income is generated and accordingly no provision for income taxes.
Products and Services
Education
The IFM provides customized education and specialized training to a wide cross-section of financial market users from investors to governments, exchanges, financial firms and multi-country member organizations. Courses range from basic to intermediate and expert level to meet the varied educational needs of those in the industry. All IFM courses are led by qualified, well-rounded educators who blend theory, practice and application into each program. In addition to customized, in-house education, the IFM offers open-enrollment courses offered in major financial centers. See current course calendar[3].
The IFM also publishes introductory booklets and comprehensive self-study guides for various National Futures Association proficiency exams.[4]These NFA exams [5] include;
- National Commodity Futures Examination - Series 3 exam
- Futures Managed Funds Examination - Series 31 exam
- Limited Futures Examination, Regulations -Series 32 exam
Ethics, Professional Conduct and AML Training
The Institute is a recognized leader in ethics and professional conduct training, and has provided training to more than 900,000 futures and security industry professionals worldwide. The IFM develops its training content from interviews with regulators and industry compliance professionals, through research and review of enforcement cases and client working groups.
The IFM offers Ethics and Anti-Money Laundering training programs that fulfill the regulatory obiligations of firms and registrants as mandated by National Futures Association and Compliance Rule 2-9.[6] and the Commodity Exchange Act(CEA)[7] In addition, the IFM authors educational content for customized professional conduct programs for regulators, exchanges and firms; conducts in-person training sessions; develop train-the-trainer materials; and provides coaching sessions for in-house staff.[8]
Data
The IFM's Data Center was established with a grant from the Tudor Investment Corporation, founded by Paul Tudor Jones[9]. The Data Center provides historical intra-day tick data on major futures contracts and U.S. equities and low-cost data services. [10] Subscription based data services include:
- Exchange Trading Fees Databank, a service that provides futures commission merchants, broker/dealers and clearing organizations worldwide with a transparent means of collecting, monitoring and validating exchange, clearing and regulatory fees associated with global trading.
- Futures & Options Fact Book, an online guide to all products and contract specifications traded on 90 international exchanges and includes a global holiday exchange calendar
- Security Futures Fact Book, an online guide to single-stock futures, ETF and narrow-based index futures and options; and broad-based index futures and options traded globally.
Finally, the IFM participates in the development of standards and fostering best practices initiatives in the financial services industry. One such initiative was a report to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Recommendation for Best Practice in Order Entry and Transmission of Exchange-Traded Futures and Options Transactions , completed by the IFM along with the National Futures Association[11]
Key People
- Peter F. Borish, IFM chairman (director & board member, Pali Holdings, Inc.)
- Thomas A. Russo, IFM vice chairman (vice chairman, Lehman Brothers Inc.)
- Paul Saltzman, IFM secretary/treasurer (Ellington Management Group, LLC)
- Trish Foshée, executive vice president (tfoshee@theIFM.org)
- Kevin L. Baldwin, director of education (kbaldwin@theIFM.org)
- Juan C. Echeverri, products and services manager (jecheverri@theIFM.org)
References
- ↑ "Review of Futures Markets”. IFM. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2007.
- ↑ "IFM Board of Trustees”. IFM. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Calendar of Events”. Institute for Financial Markets. Retrieved on March 18, 2008.
- ↑ "NFA Registration Requirements”. NFA. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.
- ↑ "NFA Exam Preparation”. IFM. Retrieved on December 28, 2007.
- ↑ "NFA Rules”. NFA. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Commodity Exchange Act”. CFTC. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Ethics”. IFM. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2007.
- ↑ "Paul Jones Tudor”. Tudor Investment Corporation. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Data Center”. IFM. Retrieved on Mar. 17, 2008.
- ↑ "Recommendation for Best Practice in Order Entry and Transmission of Exchange-Traded Futures and Options Transactions”. IFM. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.
