US regulators look to ease swaps rules

[alp227]

Source: Financial Times

US regulators are exploring ways to give large foreign banks and overseas subsidiaries of US lenders a reprieve from stringent new derivatives rules, potentially alleviating one of the biggest concerns facing global financial institutions.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking to grant a temporary exemption to swap dealers that may fall under the jurisdiction of foreign financial authorities from complying with a host of post-financial crisis regulations governing derivatives transactions, people familiar with the matter said.

New regulations such as higher capital requirements, the mandated posting of margin, central clearing and tighter business conduct standards are among the directives slated to take effect aimed at reducing systemic risk. Wall Street analysts have warned investors that these rules are expected to take a significant bite out of bank earnings power.

Last week, Michel Barnier, the EU’s financial services commissioner, sent a stern letter to US financial supervisors “strongly” encouraging them to delay applying new swaps rules to European banks “until there is legal clarity” about what the regulations would entail.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1920878e-8c7d-11e1-9758-00144feab49a.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. .

[abelenkpe]

19. +1000 nt

[sakabatou]

2. No. Just no.

They're try to undo, again, protections that lead to the disaster in 2006 (I think it was that year).

[DeSwiss]

3. Sure, why not? After the first couple of trillion.....

...you get used to weight of all that debt.

- And since it's all digital money, we won't have to worry about wheelbarrows.......


K&R


''Dear, if you want a loaf of bread AND milk, we'll need another wheelbarrow.''

[Bozita]

4. I just watched tonight's 60 Minutes report on the Lehman Brothers collapse.

NO prosecutions of any of the bad actors by either the SEC or the DOJ.

And that's in spite of the 2200 page Bankruptcy Court Examiner's Report which has gone largely ignored by both the SEC and DOJ.

Why have ANY rules if they aren't going to be enforced?

[freshstart]

17. Lehman robbed the states via state pension investments

and nothing has become of this NJ lawsuit that I can find. Other states, like Fla lost even more. But, they use the pension issue to attack the teachers and other public workers. George Bush's cousin George Walker was a big wig at Lehman, and Jeb was there at some point. From what I understand the money ended up with Bain via Neuberger Berman with George Walker at the head. I can't understand how they could have a penny after bankruptcy court.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/new_jersey_is_suing_lehman.html

http://open.salon.com/blog/thomas_horton/2008/10/06/fuld_by_lehman_bushs_family_connection

[Odin2005]

5. EPIC FAIL!

[lastlib]

6. Aw, what the hell....

...a trillion here, a trillion there....what, do you think it'll ever add up to real money???

[lib2DaBone]

7. Why don't they let American Students off the hook for massive debt?

The kids dont have a job or hope of ever getting a job in this country..... and CONgress is perfectly happy shipping jobs to China.

They were lied to and scammed... and we are AMAZED that they are pissed off.

[Amonester]

8. $wap = swap Trillions from taxpayers' pockets into...

multi-billionnaire banksters' tax heavens.

They haven't stolen enough yet?

Of course not.

[sendero]

9. Whatever it takes..

.. to keep the ponzi-economy going. It's all going to work great until it doesn't.

[KG]

10. more hope and change

[unkachuck]

11. since the Capissars in the justice department....

....won't enforce the laws and since the federal reserve, Central Committee of the Capitalist Party of America, won't manage responsibly and since the fec Politburo, won't enforce the rules and since the Standing Committee of the Central Committee is granting exemptions, the only way I can protect myself is to stop feeding the wall-street gambling addicts and distance myself completely from the evils of capitalism....

[snappyturtle]

12. I haven't read this yet but the headline alone spells

a big "NO"! Anytime I hear deregulation scares me....well, since Raygun anyway.

[freshstart]

13. I watched this today

it is an excellent movie. Goes to show how little they've learned from 2008.

[mike_c]

14. because one financial collapse isn't enough....

Greedy rat bastards.

[Amonester]

16. Not only the 'Deep Pocket$' weren't punished accordingly...

but made 'a killing' from that collapse, thanks to their carefully bribed 'staffs' in all capitalist governments...

Why wouldn't they WANT to make another 'killing' now?

[freshstart]

15. Frontline is doing a new series too

I think it starts on Tuesday.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/money-power-wall-street/dig-deeper-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-financial-crisis/

[Bozita]

26. Thank you for the heads-up!

[freshstart]

28. You're welcome!

Those videos they have up now for a primer are good. One of them has Greenspan stating his ideology was wrong, I had never seen that before. I can't believe that the Republicans are following the path of deregulation, knowing that even Greenspan says there is a flaw and that free markets don't regulate themselves. Frontline is one of my favorites.

[amandabeech]

31. I think that Greenspan is back to his usual self.

Even corporate devil Jack Welch admitted on CNBC that he was wrong on how he ran GE, but he, too, is back to his old song and dance--every year, fire 20% of your employees, no matter what.

[got root]

18. Can't allow old Europe to make their own rules in our world

Don't they realize that 'we' run the show?

[abelenkpe]

20. O Hell no! Nt

[The Magistrate]

21. These People, Sir, Should Be Told To :Pound Sand....

"Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em twice!"

[mbperrin]

22. Take everyone out that's in the derivatives business and hang them.

Or put them upside down from telephone poles and shoot them.

Some methods for dealing with monsters are completely appropriate.

[Amonester]

25. That's an 'extreme' method nobody here SHOULD wish for...

There are other ways to deal with massive roberry that don't include mass murder.

[mbperrin]

30. Well, then get to it.

My suggestion has been proven effective many times over. I'm really a populist at heart, not as much progressive.

My reaction to people trying to kill me is to get them first, and that's what is happening here. People are dying for corporate profits, and so the worst of them need to go. Then we can see how much further.

But instead of dealing with them, as you can see by the OP, our government is trying to figure out how to re-enable them.

[cliffordu]

23. What could POSSIBLY go wrong??

[allan01]

24. re: US regulators look to ease swaps rules

enough already

[jmowreader]

27. "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"

The problem with THIS history is, it's only five years old.

I realize people have short attention spans, but this is ridiculous. If anything, they need to INCREASE the rules on derivatives to do things like banning derivatives whose underlying securities are derivatives, and regulating credit default swaps as insurance--including a ban on purchasing CDS when you don't own the underlying derivatives.

Go read up on the Goldman Sachs scandal, then remind yourself: not only was everything they did in that scandal legal, it is STILL legal.

[Festivito]

29. Do I have this right, CFTC too poor to regulate oil price fixing, but, can do this.

Repubs took their funding away during a lame duck session, and now won't give it back, instead railing on Dems, Obama specifically, that we must be the cause of the problem they created.