WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top derivatives regulator is probing a widely used benchmark for swaps, the trade body overseeing the rate said, dealing a further blow to the opaque market after the sprawling Libor probe.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has subpoenaed the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) over its ISDAfix benchmark, widely used to anchor market rates, a spokeswoman for ISDA said.

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) – The top U.S. derivatives
regulator is probing a widely used benchmark for swaps, the
trade body overseeing the rate said, dealing a further blow to
the opaque market after the sprawling Libor probe.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has
subpoenaed the International Swaps and Derivatives Association
(ISDA) over its ISDAfix benchmark, widely used to
anchor market rates, a spokeswoman for ISDA said.

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) – The top U.S. derivatives
regulator late on Monday allowed swaps between units of the same
company to be traded without the intervention of a clearing
house, lifting a requirement banks had said was redundant.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is drawing
up scores of new rules as part of the U.S. overhaul of
derivative markets, which were largely unregulated before the
2007-09 credit meltdown.

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) – Oil companies are largely
escaping the close scrutiny of derivatives trading they once
warned would harm their business and are seeking further delays
from U.S. regulators.

Beginning in January this year, the top U.S. derivatives
regulator has required that companies register as dealers if
they trade more than $8 billion in swaps a year, unless they do
so to hedge price swings in their day-to-day business.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A surge of new trading data is overwhelming the top U.S. derivatives watchdog, a senior regulator said on Tuesday, crashing its computers and barring it from effectively overseeing the market.

The flood of data on swaps – financial instruments used for speculation or to protect against risk – started coming in at the beginning of the year because of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s own new rules.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. derivatives regulator will lose a key aide who oversaw much of the agency’s reform of Wall Street, just as it enters the crucial last phase of implementing the new rules.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) General Counsel Dan Berkovitz, who is 56, will leave at the end of the month to retire, the CFTC said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Banks have been complaining bitterly about new laws to sort out their industry, even though they were blamed for playing a part in the credit meltdown. But this time round, new U.S. rules look set to help them.

Starting on Monday, hedge funds and other large investors must guide their trading in derivatives through traffic control centers known as clearinghouses.

WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) – The top U.S. derivatives
regulator sided with the CME Group Inc in a row over
client data on Wednesday, a decision which could lead to a
contentious lawsuit by a rival firm.

The fight, which has pitted Wall Street against Chicago’s
powerful commodity traders, comes as regulators finalise many of
the new rules of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

By Douwe Miedema

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has asked Gary Gensler to serve a second term as the head of the top U.S. derivatives regulator, a person familiar with the situation said, but Gensler has not yet decided if he will stay.

The 55-year-old Gensler would in any case remain the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) until his current term expires in December, the person said on Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A fragmented regulatory landscape and obstruction by lobbyists are to blame for a lack of progress in banning banks from betting with their own money, Paul Volcker said on Monday.

Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, defended the rule that is named after him, which became law in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank overhaul of Wall Street to protect taxpayers from heavy bank bailouts.