Friday, February 13, 2009

Swapping the devil you know


Dealbreaker.com
Feb 12, 2009, 2:49pm

H.R. 977 (The Derivatives Markets Transparency and Accountability Act of 2009), from the brilliant mind of Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), puts restrictions on OTC contracts and would "deny the Federal Reserve the authority to establish regulations or rules with regard to clearing OTC transactions."

Instead, OTC contracts must either be cleared centrally or reported to the CFTC. Ouch. This would pretty much end the custom options and swap business, making it very difficult to tailor specific instruments for specific risk.

The bill also gives "the CFTC the authority to suspend credit default swap trading, with the concurrence of the president."

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