On November 14, 2016, Timothy Massad, Chairman of the CFTC, spoke to the CME Global Financial Leadership Conference regarding derivatives regulation. In light of the election result, he highlighted three areas that his term as Chairman has focused on that he believes will continue to be important: technological changes in markets, the effects of the Dodd-Frank reforms and international concerns. With respect to technological changes, Chairman Massad highlighted heightened cyber risk and the CFTC's continued focus in the area, as well as the growth of electronic and automatic trading. He also mentioned the CFTC's cooperation with other government agencies and increased enforcement efforts in the technological space. Chairman Massad also discussed the CFTC's efforts to both implement and ease Dodd-Frank reforms. He focused specifically on mandated central clearing and on stress tests CFTC staff recently conducted on US and foreign clearinghouses with positive results. Beyond clearinghouse resiliency, Chairman Massad focused on liquidity risk, noting how market changes, including regulatory changes, affect the availability of liquidity for market participants in different sectors.
Finally, Chairman Massad noted the CFTC's increased focus on working closely with international regulators to harmonize rules and improve working relationships. He cited a number of specific projects where the CFTC is working with its foreign counterparts. He concluded his speech by noting that he hopes derivatives regulation remains consistent, despite political changes.
Chairman Massad's remarks are available at: http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opamassad-51 .
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