Derivatives | Better Markets

SEC’s Actions Unwisely Expose Main Street Investors to High-Risk Investment Choices and Unscrupulous Financial Professionals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, December 18, 2019 Contact: Christopher Elliott, 202-618-6433, [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Lev Bagramian, Senior Securities Policy Advisor at Better Markets, issued the following statement in response to the SEC’s regulatory actions: “Christmas came early for Wall Street today as the SEC opened a big bag of gifts for the financial industry […]

Better Markets Opposes the CFTC’s Continued Deregulation Endangering the Financial System

On Monday, Better Markets filed a comment letter on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed exemption from certain U.S. regulations for certain derivatives clearinghouses organized outside of the United States. Despite the CFTC’s naming convention—”alternative compliance”—the proposal is not a means to comply with U.S. law at all, but rather, an explicit and unlawful […]

Banking Regulators Should Not Give Wall Street’s Five Biggest Banks a $40 Billion Deregulatory Gift for Their Dangerous Derivatives Trading

The five US banking regulators have proposed to eliminate initial margin requirements on interaffiliate derivatives. This is a deregulatory gift worth more than $40 billion to Wall Street’s five largest banks who have been lobbying for this because they are also the five largest derivatives dealers, handling about 90% of all U.S. derivatives transactions. The posting […]

Bank Regulators Give Wall Street $40 Billion Deregulatory Gift While Significantly Increasing Derivatives Risks to the Financial System & Taxpayers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, October 28, 2019 Contact: Christopher Elliott, 202-618-6433 Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the Office of the Comptroller, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Farm Credit Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve […]

Don’t mess with rules curbing derivatives risk

By Dennis Kelleher and Joseph R. Cisewski (this op-ed originally appeared in American Banker) Derivatives dealing and trading can be high-risk activities with catastrophic financial and economic consequences, as learned during the 2008 financial crisis. Many derivatives are not only dangerous in itself but serve as a key transmission mechanism for spreading risk. Too often, […]

Better Markets Comments on the CFTC’s Approval of the Revised and Weakened Volcker Rule

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, September 16, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Joseph R. Cisewski, Senior Derivatives Consultant for Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) adoption of the revised Volcker Rule: “The CFTC today celebrated the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers by approving a […]

CFTC to Gut the Volcker Rule on Anniversary of Lehman Brothers Crash: Ignoring the 2008 Crash, Laying the Groundwork for the Next One

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, September 11, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement regarding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) upcoming meeting to finalize a substantially weakened Volcker Rule on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers: “The anniversary of the […]

PRESS RELEASE: Fact Sheet on New Volcker Rule Detailing Substantial Changes and Correcting Misinformation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the recently announced new Volcker Rule: “Better Markets today issued a Fact Sheet on the new Volcker Rule to correct the misimpression and misstatements that […]

Here Are the Key Wins for Wall Street in the Weakened Volcker Rule

Based on a quick reading of the new Volcker Rule, the FDIC fact sheet, Director Marty Gruenberg’s dissent, and comments made at the FDIC meeting, financial regulators handed Wall Street its biggest victory since the 2008 financial crisis. In addition to not finalizing the Fair Value Accounting Test—which was vehemently opposed by Wall Street– the […]

Volcker Rule Changes Are Unjustified, Unnecessary, Dangerous and Come At The Worst Possible Time

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 20, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the revised Volcker Rule finalized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) this morning: “Proprietary trading by Wall Street’s biggest banks and derivatives dealers generates […]

The Key Wins for Wall Street in the Weakened Volcker Rule

[AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS PAGE IS AVAILABLE HERE] From comments in this morning’s FDIC meeting, it is clear that the Volcker Rule will hand Wall Street its biggest victory since the 2008 financial crisis. The new rule may ultimately finalize every major reckless, short-sighted, and legally baseless change proposed last year but not the […]

Gutting the Volcker Rule Is A Huge Win for Wall Street’s Biggest Banks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 13, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the revised Volcker Rule expected to be finalized by regulators beginning with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) next Tuesday: “Champagne corks are no doubt […]

The Volcker Rule Ban Stopping Wall Street from Gambling with Taxpayers’ Money

Introduction Although still a work in progress, this is a comprehensive and frequently updated webpage for all things Volcker Rule, including proposed rules, comment letters, analysis, media, presentations and much more. It begins with a discussion of (1) current developments and activities; (2) the background of the rule, (3) the recent proposals to weaken the […]

Stop Wall Street’s Biggest Banks from Gambling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, August 9, 2019 Contact: [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement with respect to the new Office of Financial Research (“OFR”) staff paper on the purported bond-market liquidity effects of the Volcker Rule: “The ‘staff working paper’ released by […]

Better Markets Testifies Before the Senate on Derivatives, Preventing Crashes & Protecting Taxpayers

Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher was asked to testify at a key Senate hearing on June 25, when he reminded lawmakers that America’s top five gigantic, derivative-dealing banks must be properly regulated, serve Main Street instead of threatening it, and never again get taxpayer bailouts. Almost everything you buy (gas, cereal, coffee, etc.) […]

CFTC Staff Relief for HFT Traders Potentially Positive, But Must Be Carefully Monitored

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, July 1, 2019 Contact: Jon Pattee at [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis M. Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement relating to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight’s (DSIO) relief from swap dealer registration for Floor Traders meeting […]

Testifying to Stop Wall Street Gambling with Derivatives to Jack Up Prices for their Bonuses

Almost everything you buy (gas, cereal, coffee, etc.) is connected to complex financial instruments called “derivatives,” about 90% of which are controlled by the five biggest Wall Street banks. If those gigantic derivatives-dealing banks are not properly regulated, then they play with the prices hardworking Main Street Americans pay for almost everything. They make the […]

CFTC’s Deregulatory Actions Today Create a Vast "De Maximus" Swap Dealer Exemption That is Illegal and Dangerous

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, March 25, 2019 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, issued the following statement regarding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) creation of a new exemption for bank swaps dealing activities in violation of the law: “Unregulated swaps dealing […]

CFTC GRANTS BETTER MARKETS REQUEST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, January 25, 2019 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] CFTC GRANTS BETTER MARKETS REQUEST TO EXTEND PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON SWAP EXECUTION FACILITIES (SEF) RULE Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement following an announcement by Chairman of the Commodity and Trading Futures […]

CFTC SEF Proposal Risks Return to Market that Caused 2008 Crash

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 5, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] THE CFTC’S SWAP EXECUTION FACILITIES (SEF) PROPOSAL RISKS RETURNING TO THE UNREGULATED SWAPS MARKET THAT CAUSED THE 2008 CRASH Washington, D.C. – Better Markets President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, issued the following statement on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed changes to the […]

Dangerous Derivatives to NOT Be Deregulated By CFTC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 5, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Better Markets President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, issued the following statement on the unanimous vote by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding the so-called de minimis swaps trading exception threshold: “While the $8 billion swaps dealer registration threshold […]

Federal Regulators Grant Better Markets’ Request for Volcker Rule Comment Extension

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, September 6, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Following the announcement from the five Federal financial agencies responsible for oversight and enforcement of the Volcker Rule that they were extending the deadline for comments on proposed changes to the rule, Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better […]

The CFTC’S Loophole-Laden Proposed “De Minimis” Rule Baselessly Deregulates Derivatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, August 14th, 2018 Contact: Brandon Richards at [email protected] or at 202-618-6433 The CFTC’S Loophole-Laden Proposed “De Minimis” Rule Baselessly Deregulates Derivatives in Violation of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Law Washington, DC — Better Markets’ President and CEO, Dennis Kelleher, issued the following statement regarding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed […]

Don’t Re-open the Wall Street Casino by Weakening the Volcker Rule

The Dodd Frank financial reform and consumer protection act had three core goals: Prevent financial crashes, Wall Street bailouts and another Great Recession; Protect consumers and investors from being ripped off; and Refocus finance back to funding the real economy, supporting jobs, growth and prosperity, not high risk, socially useless activities to boost their bonuses […]

The 689 Page Proposal to Roll Back the Volcker Rule Must Not Be Rushed and the Public Must Be Provided Sufficient Time to Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Better Markets, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform, and the Center for American Progress have sent a letter calling for an additional 90 days for the public to comment to the five federal financial regulators who have proposed rolling […]

Wall Street’s Biggest Banks Are Gambling and Evading Regulation Again

Wall Street’s Biggest Banks Are Gambling with Derivatives and Evading Regulation Again, Setting Us Up for Another Financial Crash An all-star financial panel of former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, former FDIC Vice Chair Thomas Hoenig, Former Director of Trading and Markets at the CFTC (now University of Maryland Law Professor) Michael Greenberger, and moderated […]

The Volcker Rule is Working to Protect America’s Families

The wisdom and effectiveness of the Volcker Rule’s ban on proprietary trading can be seen since it was put into place: it has forced banks to shift from bonus-boosting but reckless short-term trading to socially useful lending to the real economy. That financial activity is why taxpayers back banks in the first place: to support and enable economic growth […]

Weakening the Volcker Rule Will Encourage Socially Useless and Risky Trading That Benefits Banks, Not Real Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, May 30, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following the release of proposed changes to the Volcker Rule: “The Volcker Rule bans taxpayer backed banks from dangerous, destabilizing, high-risk and socially useless gambling called proprietary trading. It’s […]

Taxpayers on the Hook for High Risk, Bonus-boosting Gambling Called “Proprietary Trading”

Why Put Taxpayers on the Hook by Allowing High Risk, Bonus-boosting Gambling Called “Proprietary Trading” at Wall Street’s Biggest Banks? Want to go to Las Vegas with someone else’s credit card with no limit and you get to keep all the winnings and they pay all the losses? Who wouldn’t want that deal! That’s what […]

Chipping Away at the Most Successful Pillars of Financial Reform, Key Regulators Discuss More Banking Deregulation is On the Way

Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randy Quarles in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee made it clear that the pace of deregulation will be increasing at the key financial regulatory agencies. The previous week, the Fed had released proposals on the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) and the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and […]

Despicably, Wall Street’s Congressional Allies Delivered Again for Wall Street’s Biggest Banks and Cut the Budget for the CFTC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 22, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following the proposed cuts to the CFTC’s budget in the Congressional spending bill: “The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the cop responsible for policing Wall Street’s biggest […]

Better Markets Applauds Trump Administration for CFTC and SEC Budget Requests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, February 12, 2018 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement on President Trump’s 2019 budget requests for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC): “We applaud the Trump Administration’s 2019 budget requests […]

New CFTC Commissioner Behnam Defends the Dodd-Frank Derivatives Reforms, Subject to Narrow, Surgical Changes

Unregulated, opaque and dangerous derivatives were at the core of causing and spreading the 2008 financial crash. Not only were they packages of worthless financial products, but they also acted as a conveyor belt secretly distributing financial time bombs throughout the global financial system. That’s why the derivatives financial reforms are so critically important and […]

Sharon Bowen’s Strong Voice at CFTC Protecting Investors and Maintaining Stable Markets WIll Be Missed

On Monday, September 25, 2107, outgoing CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen delivered a farewell address at the Institute of International Economic Law. During her three-year tenure at the CFTC, Commissioner Bowen was an effective advocate for the kind of strong derivatives regulation that is necessary to protect investors, maintain stable markets, and create the conditions for […]

Statement on SIFMA’s and Chamber of Commerce’s Endorsement of the Volcker Rule

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, March 29, 2017 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement following the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment hearing on the impact of the Volcker Rule: “SIFMA, the Chamber of Commerce and every […]

Limiting Contagion Risk, CFTC Expands Interest Rate Swap Clearing Requirement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, September 28, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430, [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Victoria Daka, Attorney and Derivatives Policy Analyst at Better Markets, issued the following statement today on the announcement from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to expand the clearing requirement for interest rate swaps. “Better Markets commends the Commission for […]

CFTC Should Allow Citizen Lawsuits to Protect Consumers from Fraud and Market Manipulation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430, [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement on the announcement from Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Timothy Massad on his decision to reverse course and abandon a proposal that would have allowed private lawsuits […]

Morning Consult: SEC Rule to Limit Derivatives Alarms Industry With Liquidity Concerns

A Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to place caps on registered investment firms’ exposures to derivatives is showing the hallmarks of a classic Washington battle — the industry is trying to tamp down advocacy groups’ requests for broad regulations. Although the SEC hasn’t announced its plans, lobbyists who have been watching the derivatives rule expect the agency […]

Reuters: Wall St. banks ask Fed for 5 more years to comply with Volcker rule

Big Wall Street banks are asking the U.S. Federal Reserve to grant them an additional five-year grace period to comply with a financial reform regulation known as the Volcker rule, people familiar with the matter said. If the Fed agrees, the extension would give banks more time to exit fund investments that are difficult to […]

Stopping Taxpayer-backed Too-big-to-fail Banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley From Physical Commodities is Long Overdue

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, July, 6 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement following comments by Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo calling for an end to allowing taxpayer-backed banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to engage in trading physical […]

A Step Forward in Creating Transparent, Fair Marketplace

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 14, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement on the release today of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) final rule amending reporting and recordkeeping requirements for cleared swaps: “The 2008 financial crisis was incubated and […]

CFTC’s Final Cross-border Margin Rule a Good Step in the Right Direction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Contact: Nick Jacobs, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued this statement in response to Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) final Cross-border Margin Rule today: “We commend the CFTC’s commitment to strong cross-border regulation that stops the global derivatives dealers […]

Politico’s Morning Exchange: Bad Bank Results are a Sign the Rules are working

“Typically thoughtful but provocative statement by Dennis Kelleher, one of the behind-the-scenes architects of the Dodd-Frank law and now head of the advocacy group Better Markets. Kelleher told Morning Exchange that U.S. banks’ dire first quarter results are a sign “that the banks haven’t won and that taxpayers are better off.” “How so? Kelleher, who […]

Better Markets Statement on Congress’s Failure to Provide the CFTC with Funding to Protect the American People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 12, 2016 Contact: Shanessa Bryant, 202-618-6433 or [email protected] Washington, D.C. – Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, issued the following statement on the House Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee’s bill failing to fund the CFTC for the third year in a row: “It is an indefensible dereliction of duty by […]

The CFTC’s Repudiation of a Biased Industry Drafted Report Should be a Model Followed by all Financial Rulemaking Agencies, especially the SEC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, March 11, 2016 Contact: Shanessa Bryant, 202-618-6433 or [email protected] Washington, DC — Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher released the following statement regarding today’s CFTC announcement that the industry drafted biased report from its Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee on position limits is being withdrawn: “The CFTC’s repudiation today […]

Industry Stacked CFTC Committee Says No to Position Limits

“An advisory committee stacked with industry representatives has issued a report advising the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to drop its plans for position limits on commodities.” *** “Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets said that “every American pays more for gas, heating oil and cereal than they have to due to unregulated excessive speculation in […]

Biased Industry-stacked CFTC Advisory Committee Should Be Ignored

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 25, 2016 Contact: Shanessa Bryant, 202-618-6433 or [email protected] Biased Industry-stacked CFTC Advisory Committee Should Be Ignored Washington, DC — Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher released the following statement regarding today’s meeting of the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee and its report on position limits to rein […]

Wall Street’s biggest derivatives dealers are successfully working nonstop to kill, weaken or evade essential reforms in the derivatives markets. CFTC’s inaction is enabling this to happen. Our Policy Brief details what’s happening and what must be done.

Wall Street’s biggest derivatives dealers are successfully working nonstop to kill, weaken or evade essential reforms in the derivatives markets. The CFTC’s inaction is enabling this to happen. That must stop and the CFTC must act now to stop it. Our Policy Brief details what is happening and what must be done. Download our Policy […]

The CFTC Must Act Now to Protect Taxpayers from Another Derivatives-Driven Financial Crash and More Taxpayer Bailouts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Contact: Jeff Gohringer, 202-618-6430 or [email protected] **View the Fact Sheet, Download the Policy Brief** Washington, DC — Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher released this statement on the release of a new Policy Brief titled Stopping Wall Street’s Derivatives Dealers Club: “Unregulated and non-transparent derivatives were at […]

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Category: Derivatives

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