FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Contact: Jeff Gohringer, 202-618-6430 or jgohringer@bettermarkets.com
Better Markets Praises CFTC for International Agreement on Clearing
Washington, DC — Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher released this statement on the CFTC international agreement on clearing:
“In the years before the 2008 financial crash, Wall Street’s biggest financial firms moved many of their activities overseas to avoid U.S. rules that were intended to protect U.S. taxpayers from their highest risk activities. These irresponsible actions were encouraged by foreign countries and regulators trying to get Wall Street’s businesses, revenues, jobs and taxes by enticing U.S. firms with ‘light touch’ to ‘no touch’ regulation. The big Wall Street firms then played foreign regulators against U.S. regulators to ‘compete’ for the least regulation, resulting in a global race to the regulatory bottom.
The Dodd Frank financial reform law of 2010 was specifically written to stop this evasion from happening again by ensuring that foreign rules are at least as strong as the U.S. rules. That was the only way to protect U.S. taxpayers, workers, homeowners and savers from another devastating financial crash. However, this requires regulators like the CFTC to stand up to enormous pressure from foreign countries, regulators and industry, who still want Wall Street’s business, and from Wall Street’s biggest banks and their foreign lobbyists, who still want the weakest global rules possible.
The CFTC has stood steadfast for more than a year, insisting that Europe recognize U.S. clearing rules, and the agreement announced today does that. The CFTC and Chairman Massad should be applauded for ensuring that U.S. law properly protects threats to the U.S. wherever they may arise. This is not improperly imposing requirements on foreign participants. This is just common sense protection of the U.S. financial system and U.S. taxpayers.”
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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies – including many in finance – to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com.
