Appendix 4. Industry Trends and CFTC Resource Requirements

The market participants (the industry) under CFTC jurisdiction are changing how they conduct business in order to comply with new regulatory responsibilities and to exploit opportunities created by the new regulatory environment. Industry is also shifting its operating model due to other environmental influences, such as global prudential regulatory, macro-economic and technology trends. As industry continues to evolve, the CFTC must have the ability to make accompanying changes across all components of its operations. The CFTC has taken steps in this FY 2014 budget cycle to present these evolving industry trends and their implications for CFTC now and in the near future. This understanding is critical for the Commission's ability to appropriately regulate industry of today and tomorrow.

To begin building the bridge between industry trends and CFTC's resource requirements, the Commission has identified five post-Dodd-Frank Act trends for discussion:

  1. Swaps markets are increasingly operating under the Dodd-Frank regulatory framework;
  2. Increased number of market participants is driving innovation in derivatives trading;
  3. Intermediaries are investing in new business practices and technology;
  4. Heightened risk management practices seek to lower institutional risk at clearinghouses; and
  5. Market participants need to manage large volumes of data in order to adapt to evolving derivatives environment.

These five trends and their impact on CFTC resource requirements are discussed in the following pages.