Transcript

Staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a public roundtable on May 25, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., to discuss issues related to intermediation in derivatives trading and clearing. 

With limited exceptions, derivatives trading today is conducted through regulated intermediaries who perform many important functions, including providing customers with access to exchanges and clearinghouses, processing transactions, ensuring compliance with federal regulations, and guaranteeing performance of the derivatives contract to the clearinghouse. Recently, however, a number of registered entities have discussed with CFTC staff proposals to offer “non-intermediated” or direct trading and clearing of margined products to retail customers.

The goal of the roundtable is to gather information and receive expert input from a wide variety of stakeholder groups regarding the impact non-intermediation could have in the context of CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) and what it means for derivatives trading and clearing more generally. The roundtable will include participants from DCOs, futures commission merchants (FCM), FCM customers, end-users, academics, proprietary traders, public interest groups, and others.

The roundtable will be held in the Conference Center at CFTC's headquarters at Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW, Washington, D.C. for participants only. In accordance with the agency’s implementation of COVID-19 related precautions, the general public will have access to the roundtable by webcast on the CFTC’s website or may also listen by telephone.

Viewing/Listening Instructions:

To access the live meeting feed, use the dial-in numbers below or stream at www.cftc.gov. A live feed can also be streamed through the CFTC’s YouTube channel. Call-in participants should be prepared to provide their first name, last name, and affiliation, if applicable. Materials presented at the meeting, if any, will be made available online.