News Article U.S. regulators have proposed lowering the bar for membership into clearinghouses, which guarantee swaps. The move would force big banks to share profits relating to OTC derivatives business with non-incumbent firms under the new regulatory regime-a business opportunity estimated to be several billion dollars, according to consultants at Booz Co. The CFTC last week voted in a proposal that derivatives clearing organizations wouldn't be permitted to set capital requirements on new members above $50 million-significantly lower than the existing hurdles. "The proposed participant

Following the adoption of a directive to amend the Settlement Finality and Financial Collateral Arrangements Directives by the European Parliament and Council on May 6, 2009, Member States are required to adopt and publish legislative changes to their national laws by December 30, 2010. In the United Kingdom, HM Treasury issued a consultation paper on its proposed legislative changes in August 2010 and received a number of responses, a summary of which has now been published along with a revised legislative proposal which will be set out to Parliament. Date December 22, 2010

The CFTC has promoted Andrei Kirilenko, an economist known for his role in the review of the May 6 "flash crash," as chief economist for the agency. Kirilenko, who has worked on research into how high-frequency and algorithmic trading affects markets, has been highly sought after by commissioners seeking opinions on how to use new authority to rein in computer-driven trading, and how to try to prevent another flash crash. Kirilenko joined the CFTC in 2008 after 12 years at the International Monetary Fund, where he worked on global capital markets issues. He has a PhD in economics from the

Government bureaucrats are facing an unusual complaint: they are moving too quickly. "We have big staffs, but we are getting inundated and have started getting behind on trying to keep up with this stuff. . . The problem is there's one after another." said Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group. Spencer Bachus and Frank Lucas, Republicans who next year will chair the US House financial services and agriculture committees, respectively, have taken up industry concerns concerning the pace of rulemaking pursuant to Dodd-Frank, writing to regulators to say they may "consider delaying

The Basel Committee issued today a consultative paper on the capitalization of bank exposures to central counterparties. The Committee's proposals relate to the capitalization of bank exposures to a central counterparty and, in particular, those related to the capitalization of default fund exposures. The consultative paper seeks comments from banks, central counterparties and other stakeholders on the proposed Basel III reforms reflected in the proposed regulatory capital adequacy rules text by February 4, 2011. Date December 22, 2010