External Meetings: Meeting with Chamber of Commerce Members

Chairman Gensler began by describing the rulemaking process at the CFTC generally. He stated that the Agency had broken the rulemaking down into thirty subject areas and created thirty teams to draft the appropriate rules. He states that the Agency intended to issue proposed rules throughout the fall. Attendees were then invited to ask questions. The first question addressed how the Agency was prioritizing rulemaking. The Chairman stated that the Agency was considering those rules with shorter deadlines first and then moving in quick fashion to hopefully issue all proposed rules by mid-December.~ ~The second question concerned foreign exchange swaps. The Chairman stated that the Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to exempt foreign exchange swaps from some regulation, but not from business conduct requirements.~ ~The third question concerned margining requirements for end-users. The Chairman stated that the Federal Reserve will have authority to set margin for most end-user transactions as that regulator has oversight of bank swap dealers. The CFTC will have to decide the issue for non-bank dealers. The Chairman believes the statute provides the authority to set margin for end-user transactions, but doesn't know what the Agency will do yet. He did note that he thinks any requirement should be prospective.~ ~Fourth, attendees raised a question concerning the definition of major swap participant. The Chairman indicated that he thought it would be a small category.~ ~The fifth question concerned the recently issued EU proposal. The Chairman stated that he thought it consistent with Dodd-Frank, with some differences.~ ~The last question concerned how the Agency was going to particularize its rulemaking - whether regulations would vary product-by-product or by market sector (e.g., commodity-by-commodity or energy v. rates, etc.). The Chairman said he was not sure but that the needs of the financial system and the economy generally would guide the decisionmaking.