Brazil and Argentina lead South America in Derivatives Regulation In the midst of the sweeping global financial reform, U.S. regulators could look to Brazil for some guidance on the derivatives market. The Brazilian monetary authorities regulate and supervise the financial sector tightly and have always adopted a very restrictive approach in the derivatives market.   Brazil…

Smaller Funds May Have Trouble Finding Clearing Member Though uncertainty may seem to be the one definite aspect of the regulations outlined in Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, experts warn that hedge funds should proactively select and secure a clearing member to handle their OTC derivative transactions. Many of the larger funds have reportedly…

India and U.S. Discuss Financial Reform  U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held meetings in Washington yesterday and today with India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the second round of Economic Partnership talks between the two countries. During these meeting, Geithner, Mukherjee, and other attendees discussed some of the “financial sector reforms,” in an effort to…

Asia On Par with U.S. OTC Derivative Reform As previously reported (on Day 25 of this countdown), Mary Schapiro, SEC Chairperson testified before the House Financial Services Committee on June 16, 2011 regarding “Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context.”  In her remarks, Schapiro noted that the G20 agreement contemplates that every G20 country will have…

Australia Contemplates New (but Limited) Derivative Market Reforms Australia is moving closer to fulfilling its G20 pledge to decrease systemic risk in the OTC derivatives market by implementing national regulation. Last week, Australia’s Council of Financial Regulators (the Council) released a discussion paper about what those regulations may look like. While the Australian OTC market…

Federal Reserve Board Aids in Implementing Title VII The Federal Reserve Board is taking seriously its share of responsibility under the Dodd-Frank Act. Michael Gibson, the Senior Associate Director of the Division of Research and Statistics on the Federal Reserve Board spoke before members of Congress last week (June 15, 2011) to communicate the Board’s…

Canadian Entities Aim for OTC Derivatives Regulation Though Canada represented only $9 trillion of the $600 trillion OTC derivatives market last year, Canadian investors were not exempt from the fury of the recent market meltdown. In 2007, Canadian investors involved in the asset-backed commercial paper market suffered losses of $35 billion. But, losses notwithstanding, our…

SEC Provides Guidance and Temporary Relief Regarding Security-Based Swap Provisions of Dodd-Frank Act The SEC today issued guidance as to whichTitle VII requirements will apply to security-based swap transactions when Dodd-Frank goes into effect.   It also granted temporary relief to market participants from compliance with most of the new Exchange Act requirements that would otherwise…

The Status of Regulation in the European Union With Dodd-Frank taking effect in less than a month, officials on both sides of the Atlantic have been pressuring one another to implement stricter financial regulations, while equivocating on the regulations that they are willing to accept at home.  Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and…

Testimony by Mary Schapiro on Financial Regulatory Reform: The International Context In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro noted that the US regulators have consulted, and will continue to consult with, international securities regulators that are considering OTC derivatives market reforms.  Schapiro explained that because the OTC derivative marketplace already…