“Mark Wetjen, acting head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has warned that a lack of funding and staffing for his agency poses big risks to financial markets.

“Mr Wetjen pointed to the collapses of futures brokers MF Global and Peregrine Financial Group as he called for greater funding for his agency, the top US derivatives regulator.

“If we had more examiners that were reviewing [futures brokers] in the first place  . . . would we have been able to see that?” he told journalists on the sidelines of the annual Futures Industry Association conference in Florida. “I believe we would have had a much better chance at catching something like that.”

“He said the commission had only a “handful of people” reviewing complex regulatory reporting data. The CFTC does not have the resources to fully oversee the National Futures Association, the industry’s self-regulating trade organisation, he said.”

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Read full Financial Times article here.