Release: #4717-02
For Release: October 25, 2002

CFTC Conducts International Symposium and Training on Derivative Products, Markets and Financial Intermediaries

Chicago, Illinois – Over 55 participants representing more than 35 regulatory and market authorities from 28 countries including, Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Uruguay met this week – October 21 – 25 – to discuss issues relevant to the international derivatives markets.

The Commission’s Office of International Affairs, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, hosted this 12^th meeting of international regulatory and market authorities. Attendees listened to senior CFTC staff, along with key executives from U. S. self-regulatory organizations, and top-level representatives from a number of foreign exchanges and regulatory agencies engage in discussions and give presentations that addressed a wide variety of regulatory topics. In addition to discussions of the salient parts of the CFTC’s oversight program, several current topics were addressed from the perspective of the regulator. Some of the topics covered included:

* “Future Challenges for Regulators, including, the Single Regulator Concept.” This topic was debated by representatives from the UK Financial Services Authority, the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets, and the Italian Commissione Nazionale per le Societa e la Borsa.

* “What types of oversight should regulators continue to expect from exchanges that are for-profit public companies?” This topic was addressed in a presentation by a representative from the Montreal Exchange’s Derivatives Institute.

* “Clearing and OTC Contracts: What’s New for Regulators?” This topic was discussed by representatives from the London Clearing House, the Market Risk Division of the BM&F (Brazil), the Chicago Board of Trade Clearing Corporation, and EnergyClear. The discussion was chaired by a representative from the Commission’s Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight.

* “Trade Practice Surveillance Models for Electronic Markets – How the Private Sector can Assist Regulators.” Discussion of this topic was moderated by a representative from the Market Surveillance Office of the Italian Exchange and the panelists included representatives from the Oslo Exchange, the U.S. National Futures Association, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

* “Doing Business in Today’s Highly Scrutinized and Volatile Market Conditions: How Regulators Can Help.” The moderator of this discussion was a participant from FIMAT USA, Inc., and the discussion participants included representatives from Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Futures, Inc., and Lehman Brothers, Inc., and Katten Muchin Zavin & Rosenman. A second session involved hypothetical case studies of “How to Manage Cooperation During Real-Life Market Events.”

* “Making Tough Choices and Demonstrating Success: Regulatory Risk Management and Prioritization.” This topic was addressed in a presentation by a representative from the UK Financial Services Authority.

Commenting on the symposium, James E. Newsome, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said:

We welcomed this opportunity to convene a forum to exchange ideas reflecting a broad-spectrum of interests concerning how derivatives regulators the world over can better meet the new risks and challenges that today’s markets present.

We also were extremely pleased to provide this opportunity for international regulators, and self-regulators to share ideas on ways to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens and to facilitate cross-border access while continuing to ensure customer and market protections in the global marketplace.

We are encouraged by the commonality of concerns among regulators and the prospect for increasing regulatory cooperation.

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