Financial Regulatory Forum

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives was expected to approve the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression on Friday, marking a win for the Obama administration.

With the Senate due to debate reforms well into next year, the House could complete its legislative work by passing a 1,279-page bill that has been hammered out in the months since 2008′s financial crisis.

The bill still faces potential amendments on the House floor, including one that would gut a key provision — the proposed creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) — and another to change mortgage bankruptcy law.

The House approved a section of the bill on Thursday that would impose regulation for the first time on the $450 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, including credit default swaps like those at the root of American International Group Inc’s problems.

The bill “will increase transparency in the marketplace and reduce the systemic risk that over-the-counter derivatives can pose to the economy if left unchecked,” said Democratic House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson in a statement.

   WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee is seeking changes to draft legislation for the $450 trillion privately-traded derivatives markets, with the intent of making it harder for banks to avoid trading the contracts on exchanges.

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By Charles Abbott and Rachelle Younglai
WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) – U.S. securities and futures regulators asked Congress on Friday for more authority to police their markets, including legislation to help rein in insider trading in the commodity futures markets.

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By Jane Merriman
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) – The opaque world of credit derivatives is in the spotlight ahead of an auction to settle contracts on a debt restructuring at French electronics company Thomson that could expose flaws in the process.

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DUBLIN, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Hedge funds which bet unsuccessfully that Ireland would default on its sovereign debt want the country to reject the EU’s reform treaty this week to recoup some of their losses, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Monday.

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By Jane Baird and Jane Merriman
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland will not exercise options to redeem more than $1.5 billion of subordinated debt next month after regulators objected to it using state aid to repay the low-ranked bondholders.

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By Huw Jones
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) – The trading of privately-arranged derivatives contracts must not be forced onto exchanges and there must be no penalty for choosing not to clear trades, Europe’s derivatives industry said on Wednesday.
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FRANKFURT, Aug 28 (Reuters) – More disclosure and transparency in credit derivatives is needed to allow better risk management in a market that amounted to over $41 trillion in December 2008, the European Central Bank said on Friday.

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By Alden Bentley
NEW YORK, Aug 25 (Reuters) – More transparency or too much information?

Energy traders, analysts and mom-and-pop farmers may find themselves swimming in detail on the big bets and hedges in the commodity markets, when the U.S. futures market regulator overhauls its widely-watched report on trader positions.

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By Charles Abbott and Rachelle Younglai
WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – U.S. financial regulators would gain the power to restrict holdings of over-the-counter derivatives under legislation to be crafted in the coming months, the chairmen of two House of Representatives committees said on Thursday.

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