WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – Two congressional committees
led by Republicans approved measures on Wednesday to delay and
weaken key provisions of last year’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street
reforms, but they were expected to fizzle in the Senate.

With Democrats in control of the upper chamber of Congress
and President Barack Obama able to defend Dodd-Frank with his
veto pen, efforts by Republicans to water down and postpone the
reforms seemed unlikely to succeed, analysts said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal securities and commodities regulators said on Wednesday they need big budget boosts to police the vast derivatives market and to catch the next Bernard Madoff.

Fresh from getting modest budget increases for the current fiscal year, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission told a Senate appropriations panel they need hundreds of millions of dollars more to be effective post-financial crisis regulators.

WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – Wall Street banks and major
market players said they are equipped to comply with
derivatives reforms, but accused U.S. regulators of dragging
their feet on clarifying how and when they will go into
effect.

Regulators have released dozens of proposals to reform the
swaps markets, but bankers, exchange executives and traders
have said they need a timetable for implementation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Wall Street banks and major market players will deliver a mixed message to U.S. regulators at a meeting this week: hurry up and tell us what you are going to do, but give us more time to respond before you do it.

U.S. futures and securities regulators, having issued draft versions of most of the major rules required to overhaul the vast over-the-counter derivatives market, are holding a roundtable on Monday and Tuesday to hear from industry on how they should schedule the rollout of their reforms.

WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) – Market participants not
used to strict regulatory oversight may be given more time to
comply with new swaps rules, but those with ties to big banks
could be hit sooner, under rough guidelines the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission is considering.

The futures regulator on Friday outlined a 13 factors, or
concepts, it is considering as it determines when those
affected by sweeping new financial reform rules must comply.
The agency said implementation will be phased-in in a way that
lowers risk and minimizes cost.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Market participants not used to strict regulatory oversight may be given more time to comply with new swaps rules, but those with ties to big banks could be hit sooner, under rough guidelines the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is considering.

The futures regulator on Friday outlined a series of factors it is considering as it determines when those affected by sweeping new financial reform rules must comply.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. futures regulator unveiled a crucial part of an expanded oversight of the swaps market by defining what products will be covered by financial reform legislation.

In one of its most anticipated proposals, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said most products and transactions would fall under the definition of a swap, except certain insurance products, consumer and commercial transactions such as a contract to purchase home heating oil and loan participations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. futures and securities regulators are poised to fill in a crucial missing part in the swaps reform puzzle this week when they define what swaps products will be covered by the sweeping financial reform legislation the agencies are putting in place.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have introduced dozens of regulations to implement the derivatives reforms in the Dodd-Frank law, including crucial proposed definitions for swap dealers and details on swap trading facilities.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two House chairmen in charge of derivatives trading proposed an 18-month delay on Friday in implementation of new federal controls of the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.

Regulators need more time to design the controls and to gauge their impact on the market, said chairman Spencer Bachus of the House Financial Services Committee and chairman Frank Lucas of the House Agriculture Committee. They unveiled a bill to extend the deadline for new rules.

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) – The U.S. risk council is
hiding documents and needs to be more transparent in how it
chooses which insurers and other major non-bank financial firms
pose a risk to the financial system, lawmakers said on
Thursday.

Among the key decisions the council must make is
determining whether certain non-bank financial entities, such
as insurance companies, hedge funds and mutual funds, pose a
risk to the country’s financial stability.