AFR Statement Regarding CFTC Guidance On Cross Border Derivatives On Friday June 29th the CFTC released a critical guidance on cross border derivatives transactions. This guidance makes clear the Commission’s intention to ensure that foreign affiliates of U.S. banks comply with the new derivatives protections
AFR submitted a comment letter calling on the CFTC to increase the block trading threshold.
AFR signed onto to a letter along with more than 50 other organizations, urging members of Congress to support full funding for the CFTC.
AFR sent a letter to the SEC and CFTC urging them to hold the line on their definition of swap dealer and not to radically change it.
AFR sent a letter to the House urging members to oppose HR 3527, which would create unnecessary roadblocks to enforcement of derivatives oversight on big Wall Street banks and the financial services industry.
Click here to view this week’s highlights and lowlights in Wall Street Reform – March 24, 2012 – March, 30, 2012. Please note: Compiling and distributing ‘This Week in Wall Street Reform’ will be in a period of transition in the coming weeks, so please bear
“It’s par for the course for the GOP-controlled House to pass bills that few people notice and that ultimately go nowhere. But it’s rare for legislators to join hands across the aisle to roll back parts of President Obama’s signature legislative achievements. That’s what happened on Monday, when the House passed two little-noticed bills that changed the derivatives rules under the Dodd-Frank Act. … But critics of the bills, like Americans for Financial Reform, believe that the legislation could make substantive changes to Dodd-Frank that would increase risk and instability in the marketplace.”
AFR sent a letter to the House voicing our strong opposition to HR 2586, the “Swaps Execution Facility Clarification Act”. HR 2586 would undermine a key element of derivatives reform – the attempt to create transparent, competitive markets for previously ‘dark’ over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
“In a March 27 letter to members of the committee, Americans for Financial Reform writes that the swaps bill, introduced last October by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., chairman of the House Financial Services Subcomittee on Capital Markets, ‘would undermine’ the regulatory regime for derivatives laid out by Congress in the Dodd-Frank act ‘by exempting any derivatives transaction between a U.S. swap dealer and a non-U.S. entity from all the major protections contained in Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act,’ with the one exception being reporting requirements to regulators.”
“Also on Tuesday the Financial Services Committee approved a bill to limit the international reach of new U.S. swaps and derivative rules. …The group Americans for Financial Reform, a strong backer of Dodd-Frank, warned the bill would allow U.S. banks to evade oversight. ‘In addition to seriously undermining the basic transparency and accountability requirements in the U.S., such a ‘race to the bottom’ would be a serious blow to the entire international effort to make derivatives markets safer,’ the group said in a statement.”