Statement of Dennis Kelleher on Possible CFTC Agreement on Cross-Border Regulation of Derivatives

 

“The reported agreement between the CFTC and the EU, and among three CFTC commissioners, on cross-border derivatives regulation sounds positive and encouraging. It appears that the agreement will protect the American people from another derivatives-ignited financial crisis and the need for more taxpayer bailouts,” said Dennis Kelleher, President and CEO of Better Markets, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the financial markets.

 

“The agreement also sounds as if the Wall Street derivatives dealers club will not be allowed to shift their deals overseas and avoid strong regulation. We can all only hope that gaming the rules and the regulatory race to the global bottom – where Wall Street plays regulators and countries against each other to no one’s benefit but its own – is over. If the US-EU words on this are followed by action, it will be a great and long overdue victory for Main Street rather than Wall Street and its army of lobbyists. But, as with all such reported agreements, the details matter and they are not yet public,” Kelleher concluded.

 

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Better Markets is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes the public interest in financial reform in the domestic and global capital and commodity markets. Better Markets advocates for transparency, oversight and accountability with the goal of a stronger, safer financial system that is less prone to crisis and failure thereby eliminating or minimizing the need for more taxpayer funded bailouts. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.com