Public Statements & Remarks

Opening Statement, Meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Chairman Gary Gensler

November 10, 2010

Good afternoon.  This meeting will come to order.  This is a public meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to consider issuance of the following proposed rulemakings under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act:

    • Registration of Foreign Boards of Trade;

    • Registration of swap dealers and major swap participants;

    • Implementation of new whistleblower provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act;

    • Risk management policies of swap dealers and major swap participants;

    • Two rules concerning firewalls and conflict-of-interest policies and procedures by swap dealers, futures commission merchants and other intermediaries; and

    • Designation of a chief compliance officer and related compliance policies of swap dealers, major swap participants and futures commission merchants.

I would like to start by thanking both the staff and Commissioners Mike Dunn, Jill Sommers, Bart Chilton and Scott O’Malia for all their thoughtful work to implement the Dodd-Frank Act.  I’d also like to welcome members of the public, market participants and members of the media to today’s meeting, as well as welcome those listening to the meeting on the phone or watching the live webcast.

This is the fourth public meeting to consider Dodd-Frank rulemakings.  Including today’s actions, I anticipate that we will have published two final rules, proposed 18 rules and published three advanced notices of proposed rulemaking.  We currently plan to have at one more public meeting in November and three in December.  Dates and topics will be published in the Federal Register.  Our next meeting to consider Dodd-Frank Act rulemakings is planned for November 19.  We will announce the topics of the meeting later this week.  Though our goal has been to finish the proposal stage of the rule-writing process to implement Dodd-Frank by mid-December, we are human, and I have no doubt that some rules may slip to early next year.

I anticipate that we will be taking up at our December meetings two joint proposed rulemakings with regard to definitions – one on entities and one on products.  The Dodd-Frank Act requires the CFTC to write these rules jointly with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  These proposals, important in their own right, also will allow the public to see the Commission’s thinking on definitions while they are commenting on other rules regarding regulated entities.

We look forward to receiving public comments on the proposed rules we are considering today.  Each of the rules, as well as fact sheets and “Questions and Answers” on the rules, will be posted to our website shortly.

Before we turn to staff presentations, would any of my fellow commissioners like to make opening statements?

Last Updated: November 10, 2010