One of the hottest topics at the 36th Annual International Futures Industry Conference this week in Boca Raton, Fla., is the Dodd-Frank Act. More specifically, all eyes are on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as it works to write and implement the rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank legislation. With that in mind, SmartBrief Finance Editor Sean McMahon caught up with CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers in the hallway in Boca and asked her for an update.
How are things going with the Dodd-Frank rule-making and implementation process? Are you gonna make the deadlines?
I think it is going to be if not impossible, almost impossible for us to finish everything by July. There is no doubt in my mind. And the chairman has said that we’re gonna slip.
What is the strongest aspect of Dodd-Frank?
That’s hard to say. There are a number of things that I think are important to make sure that we increase transparency – a number of different provisions touch on that. We also have to have at least have a view of systemic risk and many of the provisions in Dodd-Frank do that. I think those are the important rules.
Many people are talking about how the world is watching what the U.S does in response to the financial crisis. What are you doing to ensure the rules you make set a global standard and don’t invite regulatory arbitrage?
We’re coordinating on a daily basis with our counterparts at other regulatory agencies — making sure we’re on the same page with other regulators in Europe, the U.K. Through our participation in IOSCO we communicate with regulators around the world.
Everyone obsesses about the numerous rules that have to be written as part of Dodd-Frank, but is there anything you think Dodd-Frank might have missed? Any rules Congress didn’t put in Dodd-Frank that you think need to be written?
There are a number of different rules that we have proposed that weren’t mandated by Dodd-Frank, such as any of the DCM core principle rules, the treatment of customer funds under regulation 1.25. None of that was in Dodd-Frank.