Derivatives Archives - Page 6 of 28 - Americans for Financial Reform

AFR in the News: CFTC Underfunding Is “a Backdoor Attack on Derivatives Regulation.”

While the Administration wants to increase the CFTC’s budget, its $280 million request for FY 2015 is $35 million less than last year’s proposal, The American Banker points out. “We have the mandate, but not the money, to do the job,” Commissioner Bart Chilton said in a press release. Americans for Financial Reform, the story adds, has described underfunding of the CFTC as “a backdoor attack on derivatives regulation.”

AFR in the News: Massad Pledges Support for CFTC Commodity Speculation Curbs

Timothy Massad, nominated to lead the CFTC, “has drawn skepticism from [public] interest groups about his views on regulation,” according to Bloomberg, which cites Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. “He’s really something of a blank,” Stanley said. “He doesn’t have a policy or substantive record at least in the areas regulated by the CFTC.”

Fact Sheet on CFTC Funding

Increased funding of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a crucial piece of Wall Street reform. Here’s why.

AFR Statement on CFTC Funding in the FY 2015 Budget

“Refusing to adequately fund the CFTC is a backdoor attack on derivatives regulation. The agency needs the resources to meaningfully implement and enforce the new rules that Congress directed it to write. Those rules are essential to the mission of bringing basic standards of transparency and safety to markets that, left unchecked, were at the heart of the financial crisis that did so much damage to our economy.”

AFR Calls on International Regulators to Improve Derivatives Market Transparency

AFR submitted a comment letter to the financial stability board on plans for the aggregation of global derivatives data.

AFR Statement on CFTC Treatment of European Trading Facilities

“The derivatives market is a global market, but risks incurred by U.S. firms can impact the U.S. economy regardless of where a derivatives transaction takes place. As the process of cross-border regulation moves forward we urge the CFTC to ensure that all derivatives transactions posing a risk to the U.S. economy fall either under U.S. rules or under a regime that is fully equivalent to U.S. rules and is properly enforced.”

AFR in the News: Budget Deal Puts Squeeze On Financial Regulators

“Lisa Donner, head of Americans for Financial Reform, contends the CFTC budget was slashed at the behest of Wall Street lobbyists seeking to undercut the effectiveness of financial reform. The budget savings are so miniscule that ‘it’s not plausible that the real issue is budget numbers,’ she says.”

AFR Applauds CFTC for Resisting Continued Wall Street Efforts to Dodge Derivatives Rules

“In a brief advisory statement, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has closed a specious, lobbyist-concocted loophole in the regulation of the derivatives markets. By doing so, the Commission has reaffirmed one of the most important and hard-won victories of the Dodd-Frank Act.”

Explore the Regulatory Frontier of Shadow Banking, with Bair, Tarullo, Lawsky & Others

Commercial banks – the traditional focus of financial regulation – no longer stand at the center of the financial system. Broker-dealers, money market funds, asset managers, and insurance companies have become key actors, with the potential to shake the stability of the whole economy. Join prominent experts, reform advocates, and regulators for a discussion of the “shadow banking” system of market-mediated credit and the steps needed to integrate it into a safer and more sustainable financial system.

AFR in the News: Obama Nominates Senior Treasury Official to Lead CFTC

“The CFTC is at an important crossroads,” the Washington Post observes. “The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act directed the agency, with 674 employees and a $194 million budget, to oversee a $400 trillion piece of the unregulated derivatives market, a key contributor to the financial crisis. The CFTC has almost finished writing the rules mandated by the law and must now get Wall Street to comply.”