Bailout

The SEC/CFTC carve up emerges

By Felix Salmon

Swaps asks if I missed the bit of Mary Schapiro’s testimony on Monday in which she proposed how to carve up the world of over-the-counter derivatives — the answer is that yes, I did. But here it is:

Stated briefly, primary responsibility for “securities-related” OTC derivatives would be retained by the SEC, which is also responsible for oversight of markets affected by this subset of OTC derivatives. Primary responsibility for all other OTC derivatives, including derivatives related to interest rates, foreign exchange, commodities, energy, and metals, would rest with the CFTC.

This seems to be eminently logical and intuitive to me. Might it be that what could have been shaping up to be a massive fight between the SEC and the CFTC is in fact set to be settled amicably and sensibly? Or are big turf fights over exchange-traded options still to come?

Full post as published by Macroprudential on June 24, 2009 (boomark / email).