The CFTC has a long list of things to do these days and Petal Walker, former chief counsel to former CFTC commissioner Sharon Y. Bowen, got a chance to focus on them at FTF’s CMD Ops 2017 (collateral, margining and derivatives) conference in New York City this past October.
Walker spoke with FTF News for a video chat after her presentation, “Unfinished Business: The CFTC’s Current Regulatory Landscape.” Her talk provided insight into the regulatory dynamics that will impact future policies of the Trump administration.
In particular, several rule-making efforts will likely be high on the list of initiatives to be finalized.
“The capital rules have to be finalized — that’s clearly going to have a significant impact,” Walker says. Overall, U.S. swap dealers “are provisionally registered because capital and margin [rules] were not finalized yet. So margin is done and capital is the last thing that has to be done. … It’s important not only in determining the capital level but in affecting who remains a dealer, who becomes a dealer. If the capital rules are more flexible, we’ll have entities that want to become dealers and they’ll take on responsibilities they may not anticipate. Nonetheless, it’s important.”
The capital rule has gone through several iterations via the CFTC, and has not yet been finalized. “This is under staff review,” according to a CFTC spokesman.
CREDITS:
Video Production: Janene Knox and William J. Poznanski, Jr.
Interview conducted by: Eugene Grygo, chief content officer, FTF News
Co-Producers: Sarah Hathaway, vice president, Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) and Eugene Grygo
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