Concurrence of Commissioner Jill E. Sommers on Cantor Futures Exchange L.P., Order of Designation as a Contract Market
April 20, 2010
I concur with the staff recommendation that Cantor Futures Exchange L.P. has satisfied the criteria in the Commodity Exchange Act for designation as a contract market. This approval is separate from Commission approval of any media related contracts that may be traded on the Cantor Futures Exchange.
The CFTC published a concept release on May 7, 2008, (73 FR 25669) regarding the appropriate regulatory treatment of financial agreements offered by markets commonly referred to as event, prediction, or information markets. In that Concept Release, the Commission recognized that since 2005, the Commission’s staff has received a substantial number of requests for guidance on the propriety of offering and trading financial agreements that may primarily function as information aggregation vehicles.
In the last week, the Commission has approved the designation of two Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) that intend to list for trading contracts relating to motion picture box office receipts and other media-related contracts. The broad policy issues discussed in the Concept Release may be raised by the types of contracts these two DCMs intend to list for trading. I believe it preferable for the Commission to address the broad policy issues raised in the Concept Release, and establish some framework for responding to those issues, in lieu of merely responding to individual petitions for market designation or contract approval as they happen to be submitted.
Last Updated: June 14, 2010