2012 was a tough year for the derivatives industry. The year opened with the industry still trying to deal with the fallout from the collapse of MF Global and the disappearance of supposedly segregated customer funds. Then came the bankruptcy of the Peregrine Group and the discovery that its proprietor had been able to conceal his misappropriation of money from CME and CFTC regulators for years. New regulations implementing provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation passed by Congress in 2010 began to take effect in ways that heralded seismic changes for derivatives markets.On top of the industry's political, regulatory, structural and public relations problems, trading volume on world derivative exchanges took a nosedive...