|
<html> |
|
<title> - ASSESSING THE REGULATORY, ECONOMIC, AND MARKET IMPLICATIONS OF THE DODD-FRANK DERIVATIVES TITLE</title> |
|
<body><pre> |
|
[House Hearing, 112 Congress] |
|
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSESSING THE REGULATORY, ECONOMIC, |
|
AND MARKET IMPLICATIONS OF THE |
|
DODD-FRANK DERIVATIVES TITLE |
|
|
|
======================================================================= |
|
|
|
HEARING |
|
|
|
BEFORE THE |
|
|
|
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES |
|
|
|
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
|
|
|
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS |
|
|
|
FIRST SESSION |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
|
|
FEBRUARY 15, 2011 |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
|
|
Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services |
|
|
|
Serial No. 112-5 |
|
|
|
ASSESSING THE REGULATORY, ECONOMIC, AND MARKET IMPLICATIONS |
|
|
|
OF THE DODD-FRANK DERIVATIVES TITLE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ASSESSING THE REGULATORY, ECONOMIC, |
|
AND MARKET IMPLICATIONS OF THE |
|
DODD-FRANK DERIVATIVES TITLE |
|
|
|
======================================================================= |
|
|
|
HEARING |
|
|
|
BEFORE THE |
|
|
|
COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES |
|
|
|
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
|
|
|
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS |
|
|
|
FIRST SESSION |
|
|
|
__________ |
|
|
|
FEBRUARY 15, 2011 |
|
|
|
__________ |
|
|
|
Printed for the use of the Committee on Financial Services |
|
|
|
Serial No. 112-5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE |
|
64-554 WASHINGTON : 2011 |
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, |
|
http://bookstore.gpo.gov. For more information, contact the GPO Customer Contact Center, U.S. Government Printing Office. Phone 202�09512�091800, or 866�09512�091800 (toll-free). E-mail, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0b6c7b644b687e787f636e677b25686466">[email protected]</a>. |
|
|
|
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FINANCIAL SERVICES |
|
|
|
SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama, Chairman |
|
|
|
JEB HENSARLING, Texas, Vice BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts, |
|
Chairman Ranking Member |
|
PETER T. KING, New York MAXINE WATERS, California |
|
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York |
|
FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois |
|
RON PAUL, Texas NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ, New York |
|
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina |
|
WALTER B. JONES, North Carolina GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York |
|
JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois BRAD SHERMAN, California |
|
GARY G. MILLER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York |
|
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts |
|
SCOTT GARRETT, New Jersey RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas |
|
RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri |
|
PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina CAROLYN McCARTHY, New York |
|
JOHN CAMPBELL, California JOE BACA, California |
|
MICHELE BACHMANN, Minnesota STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts |
|
KENNY MARCHANT, Texas BRAD MILLER, North Carolina |
|
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan DAVID SCOTT, Georgia |
|
KEVIN McCARTHY, California AL GREEN, Texas |
|
STEVAN PEARCE, New Mexico EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri |
|
BILL POSEY, Florida GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin |
|
MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK, KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota |
|
Pennsylvania ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado |
|
LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia JOE DONNELLY, Indiana |
|
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri ANDRE CARSON, Indiana |
|
BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan JAMES A. HIMES, Connecticut |
|
SEAN P. DUFFY, Wisconsin GARY C. PETERS, Michigan |
|
NAN A. S. HAYWORTH, New York JOHN C. CARNEY, Jr., Delaware |
|
JAMES B. RENACCI, Ohio |
|
ROBERT HURT, Virginia |
|
ROBERT J. DOLD, Illinois |
|
DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona |
|
MICHAEL G. GRIMM, New York |
|
FRANCISCO ``QUICO'' CANSECO, Texas |
|
STEVE STIVERS, Ohio |
|
|
|
Larry C. Lavender, Chief of Staff |
|
|
|
|
|
C O N T E N T S |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
Page |
|
Hearing held on: |
|
February 15, 2011............................................ 1 |
|
Appendix: |
|
February 15, 2011............................................ 73 |
|
|
|
WITNESSES |
|
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 |
|
|
|
Cawley, James, Chief Executive Officer, Javelin Capital Markets, |
|
on behalf of the Swaps and Derivatives Market Association |
|
(SDMA)......................................................... 58 |
|
Donahue, Donald F., Chairman and Chief Executive officer, The |
|
Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)................. 53 |
|
Duffy, Terrence A., Executive Chairman, CME Group Inc............ 55 |
|
Gensler, Hon. Gary, Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading |
|
Commission (CFTC).............................................. 10 |
|
Giancarlo, J. Christopher, Executive Vice President, GFI Group |
|
Inc............................................................ 60 |
|
Reiners, Craig, Director of Risk Management, MillerCoors LLC, on |
|
behalf of the Coalition for Derivatives End-Users.............. 51 |
|
Schapiro, Hon. Mary L., Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange |
|
Commission (SEC)............................................... 8 |
|
Tarullo, Hon. Daniel K., Governor, Board of Governors of the |
|
Federal Reserve System......................................... 11 |
|
Thompson, Don, Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, |
|
JPMorgan Chase & Co., on behalf of the Securities Industry and |
|
Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).......................... 57 |
|
|
|
APPENDIX |
|
|
|
Prepared statements: |
|
Bachus, Hon. Spencer......................................... 74 |
|
Hinojosa, Hon. Ruben......................................... 75 |
|
Cawley, James................................................ 77 |
|
Donahue, Donald F............................................ 81 |
|
Duffy, Terrence A.,.......................................... 257 |
|
Gensler, Hon. Gary........................................... 277 |
|
Giancarlo, J. Christopher.................................... 288 |
|
Reiners, Craig............................................... 309 |
|
Schapiro, Hon. Mary L........................................ 312 |
|
Tarullo, Hon. Daniel K....................................... 323 |
|
Thompson, Don................................................ 330 |
|
|
|
Additional Material Submitted for the Record |
|
|
|
Garrett, Hon. Scott: |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to Hon. Gary Gensler 337 |
|
Editorial from The Wall Street Journal dated February 11, |
|
2011, entitled, ``The Futures of America''................. 348 |
|
Hinojosa, Hon. Ruben: |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to Donald F. Donahue 350 |
|
Letter from The Financial Services Roundtable to David A. |
|
Stawick, Secretary of the Commission, CFTC................. 353 |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to James Cawley..... 357 |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to Terrence A. Duffy 361 |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to Hon. Gary Gensler 364 |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to J. Christopher |
|
Giancarlo.................................................. 366 |
|
Written responses to questions submitted to Hon. Daniel |
|
Tarullo.................................................... 369 |
|
Perlmutter, Hon. Ed: |
|
Written response to a question submitted to Craig Reiners.... 370 |
|
Waters, Hon. Maxine: |
|
Editorial from The New York Times dated February 14, 2011, |
|
entitled, ``Vanishing Act: `Advisers' Distance Themselves |
|
From a Report''............................................ 371 |
|
|
|
ASSESSING THE REGULATORY, ECONOMIC, |
|
AND MARKET IMPLICATIONS OF THE |
|
DODD-FRANK DERIVATIVES TITLE |
|
|
|
---------- |
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 |
|
|
|
U.S. House of Representatives, |
|
Committee on Financial Services, |
|
Washington, D.C. |
|
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:03 a.m., in |
|
room 2128, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Spencer Bachus |
|
[chairman of the committee] presiding. |
|
Members present: Representatives Bachus, Hensarling, Royce, |
|
Lucas, Manzullo, Biggert, Capito, Garrett, Neugebauer, McHenry, |
|
Marchant, Pearce, Posey, Fitzpatrick, Luetkemeyer, Huizenga, |
|
Duffy, Hayworth, Renacci, Hurt, Dold, Schweikert, Grimm, |
|
Canseco, Stivers; Frank, Waters, Maloney, Velazquez, Watt, |
|
Ackerman, Sherman, Meeks, Capuano, Hinojosa, Clay, Baca, Lynch, |
|
Miller of North Carolina, Scott, Green, Ellison, Perlmutter, |
|
Carson, Himes, Peters, and Carney. |
|
Chairman Bachus. In the interest of time, I am going to |
|
submit my written statement for the record and will not make an |
|
opening statement. And I will recognize some members on our |
|
side until our 10 minutes has expired. |
|
I urge members to give a brief statement or submit a |
|
written statement so we can move along. We will adhere to the |
|
10 minute-limit on each side. Without objection, all members' |
|
written statements will be made a part of the record. |
|
I want to welcome our witnesses and I look forward to your |
|
testimony. And with that, I recognize the ranking member for |
|
his opening statement. |
|
Mr. Frank. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I will ask to be |
|
recognized for 3 minutes. We will stay within the 10 minutes. |
|
The hearing today is a prelude to a very important set of |
|
decisions we are going to be making today on the Floor. |
|
We have two very able and dedicated regulators who were |
|
extremely cooperative with us as we drafted the bill. We |
|
actually have three, but Mr. Tarullo is not on the Floor this |
|
week with his appropriation since his agency doesn't receive |
|
one. |
|
The budget that we have been presented for the Securities |
|
and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading |
|
Commission (CFTC) prevent them from doing the job the American |
|
people need them to do. The CFTC is a very small agency |
|
compared to the massive industry we have asked them to |
|
regulate. |
|
I believe it is clear. We will hear more about this from |
|
the people on the Financial Inquiry Commission that the lack of |
|
regulation of derivatives in various aspects contributed |
|
greatly to the financial crisis. |
|
We gave the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the |
|
SEC instructions with some latitude as to how to deal with |
|
that. We are, at this point, in jeopardy of their not being |
|
able to carry out that mandate. The SEC has other |
|
responsibilities in investor protection and elsewhere that are |
|
in jeopardy. |
|
So I hope we will, as we go through this hearing, and talk |
|
about the importance of this to be done thoughtfully and in |
|
coordination between the SEC and the CFTC, keep in mind that an |
|
absence of funding will make all of this invalid. |
|
Agencies that are not well-funded are not going to do a |
|
good job. I would say to people in the industry, the laws and |
|
the rules, the law has already been adopted, the rules are |
|
about to be promulgated, it is not in anybody's interest to |
|
have agencies that are not well-funded, not able to have the |
|
equipment they need, not able to have the personnel they need |
|
to carry these out. |
|
And that, I think, is the overhanging question as we go |
|
through this hearing. We are about to debate a budget from my |
|
Republican colleagues that will provide such inadequate funding |
|
for the SEC and the CFTC as to make all of this academic. I |
|
will be offering an amendment to increase funding for the SEC. |
|
The CFTC does not come under the jurisdiction of this committee |
|
so I have no amendment to offer there. |
|
I believe the Administration has made some neutral |
|
proposals about how to increase its funding, and I hope that |
|
those are also adopted. But we will be voting on an amendment |
|
to raise the SEC--not to the level I wish it could be at, but |
|
to a far closer level to what is needed. |
|
And as we go forward and we talk about the importance of |
|
doing this, and I would say even to those who are critical, who |
|
wish we hadn't done some of what we did, unfunding the rules |
|
that remain in place is the worst of all approaches. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I thank the ranking member. |
|
Mr. Royce is recognized for 1 minute. |
|
Mr. Royce. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the lessons of |
|
the recent sale of the New York Stock Exchange, a great symbol |
|
of America's financial strength, to a German exchange is that |
|
our markets are now competing against mature financial hubs |
|
throughout Europe and Asia. |
|
And much of this competition is because of the unfriendly |
|
business environment we have managed to create here in the |
|
United States. We have the second highest corporate tax rate in |
|
the developed world. We have the most active trial bar in the |
|
world. And we have a regulatory structure that burdens business |
|
without yielding many benefits. |
|
In the derivatives realm, if transaction costs to end users |
|
of derivatives increase because of duplicative rules, because |
|
of complex, unworkable prescriptions, because of damage |
|
liquidity, then end users simply will send their business to |
|
European dealers, whether it is Barclays or Deutsche Bank, with |
|
whom many already have trading relationships. |
|
Failure to create a commonsense regulatory structure that |
|
recognizes this fact will do little to protect investors, but |
|
will go a long way to benefit these growing financial hubs |
|
around the world. While Title VII wasn't what I would have |
|
liked to have seen, the benefit was that it gave the |
|
regulators, the supposed grownups in the room, the final say. |
|
Unfortunately, all signs thus far indicate that this, too, was |
|
a mistake. |
|
I look forward to hearing from the panel. And I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Lucas? |
|
Mr. Lucas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding today's |
|
hearing. In the last Congress, I worked with my colleagues on |
|
this committee, as well as the Agriculture Committee, to bring |
|
meaningful and responsible reform to derivatives regulation. |
|
Although I was not supportive of the final legislation, it |
|
is now critical that we work together to ensure that the |
|
implementation of Title VII is done right. These new |
|
regulations will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on our |
|
country's financial sector and overall economy. |
|
As we work our way through the rulemaking process, it is |
|
important that the process be accomplished in a thoughtful and |
|
transparent manner, and that the necessary regulatory certainty |
|
be provided for all market participants. I remain concerned |
|
that the current timeline for implementation is unrealistic and |
|
that more time is needed to adequately implement the law. |
|
Additionally, we must ensure that the new rules are |
|
consistent with the congressional intent of Dodd-Frank. I look |
|
forward to continuing this discussion and hearing from our |
|
witnesses, and I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. |
|
Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Scott, for 2 minutes. |
|
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we have seen from |
|
the recent financial crisis, derivatives bring with them a |
|
number of certain potential dangers if not properly backed with |
|
capital, or if the market lacks sufficient transparency. But |
|
despite these past troubles, derivatives do serve a very |
|
valuable purpose for American businesses by protecting them |
|
against legitimate risk. |
|
The Dodd-Frank legislation passed in large part by our |
|
committee aims to regulate credit default swaps and other |
|
derivatives. Title VII of the law requires central clearing and |
|
exchange trading for derivatives that can, and I emphasize can, |
|
be cleared and provides the role of both regulators and |
|
clearinghouses in determining which contracts should be |
|
cleared. |
|
In addition, the law adds financial safeguards by ensuring |
|
that dealers and major swap participants have adequate |
|
financial resources to meet their responsibilities. And |
|
regulators now have the authority to impose capital and market |
|
requirements to swap dealers and major participants. |
|
These regulations on derivatives were passed as part of |
|
Dodd-Frank to increase accountability and transparency and to |
|
encourage stability in financial markets following the 2008 |
|
crisis. However, the effectiveness of this law depends heavily |
|
on how such rules are implemented by the regulators. |
|
I look forward to hearing opinions from today's witnesses |
|
on how the requirements enacted in Dodd-Frank are being adhered |
|
to now, how the regulatory process is proceeding, and how those |
|
regulations are contributing to increased financial stability, |
|
which is the end result we all seek. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Garrett is recognized for 2 minutes. |
|
Mr. Garrett. I thank the Chair. I thank the entire panel. |
|
Over the last several months, there has been a tremendous |
|
volume of discussion on all the rulemaking coming out of Dodd- |
|
Frank and the profound effects that it is going to have on the |
|
derivatives markets and the broader economy as well. |
|
But when you look at this freight train of rulemaking that |
|
is really running down the track to a July deadline, I think |
|
not enough alarm has been raised over the potentially |
|
devastating impact that this rulemaking may have on the U.S.- |
|
based derivatives marketplace. |
|
And when I talked to several market participants, they told |
|
me that if the rulemaking, particularly of the CFTC, were to be |
|
implemented in its current form it could literally spell the |
|
end of the U.S.-based derivatives market. It would simply cease |
|
to exist. |
|
That is because the potential negative consequences are |
|
many and far-reaching, from making it prohibitively expensive |
|
for thousands of your small, Main Street companies to engage in |
|
responsible risk mitigation, to making it basically impossible |
|
for many of our financial firms to compete around the world. So |
|
the real world impact, of course, will be felt in the loss of |
|
jobs, lots of jobs. |
|
Millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost, jobs over |
|
the last several years, but we have still remained a leader in |
|
financial services. But if these rules get implemented as is, |
|
that will no longer be the case. |
|
We will hemorrhage millions of excellent, high-paying jobs |
|
to other localities around the world where there will be little |
|
to no appetite, I think, to follow some of the more outlandish |
|
rulemakings that are part of a grand and I would say |
|
unnecessary expense that could have massive negative |
|
consequences. |
|
It is bad enough, I think, that Title VII was written |
|
literally in the middle of the last night of the Dodd-Frank |
|
conference back in June. So let us not here now exacerbate the |
|
mistakes made that night by rushing through a rulemaking |
|
process that is even more far-reaching than that contemplated |
|
by the bill's authors. |
|
Derivatives, I think, have been a favorite whipping boy, if |
|
you will, of many critics. But if we continue down this road, |
|
and there is not a lot of time to change course, there is-- |
|
literally may not be a U.S.-based derivatives market to kick |
|
around in this country anymore. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Lynch for 3 minutes. |
|
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking |
|
member. I would also like to thank the witnesses for coming to |
|
this committee today to help us with our work. The derivatives |
|
title of the Dodd-Frank Act is essential to reforming our |
|
financial system. I believe the derivatives market, its opacity |
|
and extreme leverage, caused a great deal of the difficulty and |
|
pain of the financial crisis. |
|
The interconnectedness of derivatives products and their |
|
use magnified among anonymous counterparties that concentrated |
|
risk, and much of it outside of the reach of our regulatory |
|
framework. |
|
We have asked the SEC and the CFTC to issue numerous |
|
rulemakings and hold public hearings and begin the process of |
|
regulating the over-the-counter derivatives market, which |
|
neither agency has held jurisdiction over in the past. |
|
I am concerned, however, that despite the increased |
|
responsibilities through Dodd-Frank, the SEC and the CFTC have |
|
received flat funding due to the extension of the continuing |
|
resolution. The ability of these agencies to police the markets |
|
and enforce securities and commodities laws is severely limited |
|
under current funding levels. |
|
What is particularly concerning is that by holding these |
|
agencies to Fiscal Year 2010 budget levels, neither has been |
|
able to hire staff with expertise in the OTC derivatives |
|
markets, which differ significantly from their prior |
|
responsibilities in securities and futures markets. |
|
And to make matters worse, the Republican proposal for a |
|
full year C.R. would cut $178 million from the SEC and $174 |
|
million from the CFTC. And that would force both of these |
|
agencies with new responsibilities to lay off staff. |
|
We need to ensure that these regulators have the tools and |
|
resources to complete the objectives that Congress has laid |
|
out. Don't worry about the markets running away to Europe. They |
|
are trying to strengthen their markets just the way we are |
|
trying to. This is a red herring. |
|
And if you think regulation is costly, how about the $7 |
|
trillion that we just lost from not regulating the derivatives |
|
market? That has not been taken into consideration. I look |
|
forward to the testimony. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I |
|
yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. McHenry, for 1 minute. |
|
Mr. McHenry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding time. |
|
Over the past few decades, the derivatives market has developed |
|
into a highly sophisticated and yet essential market for U.S. |
|
businesses of all sizes. Therefore, it is vital that the |
|
regulators who have been empowered under Dodd-Frank continue to |
|
allow American businesses to manage their risk and protect |
|
themselves against market volatility. This is about jobs. |
|
A recent survey suggests that higher capital requirements |
|
could potentially cost end users on Main Street billions of |
|
dollars each year and put up to 130,000 jobs at risk. That is |
|
something we simply cannot afford to do while our economy is |
|
attempting to regain its strong footing. I would encourage the |
|
regulators to keep this in mind. And certainly our oversight |
|
hearings here in Congress will keep that in mind. And I yield |
|
back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Luetkemeyer? |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will yield back |
|
my time. Thank you. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Ms. Hayworth, for 1 minute. |
|
Dr. Hayworth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senior colleagues |
|
here have rightly noted that the United States has become an |
|
increasingly hostile environment for investment relative to |
|
other developed nations. |
|
I am very concerned that our highest duty in this Congress |
|
is to ensure the security and freedom of our Nation and our |
|
people. The specifics of what we do here have a material effect |
|
on jobs and on prosperity. And that is literally the dignity |
|
and sustenance of our families. |
|
If we impede enterprise, as would be the case through |
|
excessive regulation of end user derivatives, and to wit, a |
|
Fortune 100 employer in my district would have to curtail key |
|
investment if required to meet capital requirements for end |
|
users as may be specified in Dodd-Frank, then we will lose our |
|
mission as a Congress and endanger our future as a nation. |
|
So I look forward to hearing your comments on how we can |
|
relieve that burden from our American enterprise. Thank you. I |
|
yield back my time. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Dold? |
|
Mr. Dold. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. One minute. |
|
Mr. Dold. I want to thank the witnesses for their time and |
|
for coming out today. And I certainly share some of the |
|
concerns that have been addressed by some of my colleagues |
|
today. |
|
Derivatives have been productively and efficiently used for |
|
a significant period of time by reducing risk and reducing |
|
price volatility, increasing stability. These derivatives |
|
markets directly benefited companies, employees, consumers, and |
|
our overall economy. |
|
In the past several years, certain companies have made some |
|
mistakes in the derivatives markets, to be sure. They didn't |
|
verify that their counterparties had sufficient collateral. |
|
They didn't verify that their counterparties had the ability to |
|
pay. They didn't determine whether their counterparties had too |
|
much exposure in other derivatives markets or market risk. |
|
However, as far as I can tell, the end users did not make |
|
these mistakes systematically. And now these end users are |
|
faced with the uncertain prospects of margin regulations that |
|
sufficiently and unnecessarily change their longstanding |
|
successful businesses' models while focusing them to play |
|
capital inefficiently. |
|
If they are forced to do so, then we will unnecessarily |
|
force scarce capital to be unparked unproductively on the |
|
sidelines. I believe that we will lose jobs here in the United |
|
States, and we will damage our economy. |
|
And instead of reducing risk and reducing price volatility |
|
and increasing stability for businesses, employees, consumers, |
|
and indeed, I believe all Americans, we will get the opposite |
|
result as risks that would otherwise have been absorbed into |
|
the derivatives markets are passed along. I thank the chairman |
|
for the time. And I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you, Mr. Dold. |
|
Ms. Waters, for 1 minute. |
|
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The Dodd- |
|
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was |
|
designed to address the lack of transparency and capital in the |
|
derivatives market, to prevent the industry and its clients |
|
from needing another taxpayer-funded bailout. |
|
Specifically, the legislation calls for the SEC and the |
|
CFTC to regulate the OTC derivatives market to pre-approved |
|
contracts before clearinghouses can clear them, and to punish |
|
bad actors. In fact, the Dodd-Frank Act charges the SEC to |
|
promulgate seven rules to implement reforms to the OTC markets. |
|
Some critics of the Dodd-Frank Act incorrectly represent |
|
that these reforms to the OTC market will result in fewer jobs. |
|
On the contrary, creating a system with transparency and |
|
regulation allows market participants to know what the rules of |
|
the game are and protects them from the impact of reckless |
|
trading of the sort that led to the 2008 financial crisis. |
|
We saw that impact in 2008. Two years later, we are still |
|
seeing the effects of high unemployment, lack of credit, and |
|
limited business investment that resulted from the 2008 |
|
financial crisis. The Dodd-Frank Act will provide the |
|
transparency and regulation the OTC market needs to protect |
|
counterparties and taxpayers. In the process, it will save |
|
jobs. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance of my |
|
time. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I thank you. |
|
Mr. Canseco, for a minute-and-a-half. |
|
Mr. Canseco. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you very |
|
much for being here today, members of the panel. The breadth of |
|
rulemaking as a result of Dodd-Frank is extraordinary. |
|
According to the Committee on Capital Markets Regulations, the |
|
CFTC and the SEC are both making about 10 times the amount of |
|
rules per year than they did before Dodd-Frank was passed. The |
|
amount of days it takes for a rule to get from the proposed |
|
stage to implementation has been halved at the SEC. |
|
These two agencies, along with the Federal Reserve and |
|
others, have been asked to take on an incredible task that has |
|
serious implications for our financial markets and economy. |
|
Dodd-Frank left a great deal of discretion to the agencies. |
|
That is why today's hearing is so important. Our job is to |
|
ensure that as the Federal agencies write these rules, they do |
|
not negatively impact the ability to hedge risk in our economy. |
|
From my experiences in the private sector, where I actually |
|
worked with the derivatives, I know how important the ability |
|
of a company to hedge its risk using derivatives is to our |
|
economy and to our consumers. |
|
Many of the benefits of derivatives are hidden to |
|
consumers. But when our fellow citizens go to the store to buy |
|
gas, milk, clothes or whatever else, they sometimes don't |
|
realize that the affordability of these products is due in |
|
large part to the manufacturer's ability to hedge risk. With |
|
this in my mind, I look forward to hearing from today's |
|
witnesses on this important issue. And I yield back my time. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Carson, for 1 minute. |
|
Mr. Carson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I welcome the |
|
opportunity to review Dodd-Frank to ensure the bill |
|
accomplishes what we intended it to do when it was written in |
|
this committee last year. |
|
However, I am deeply opposed to defunding the bill because |
|
our friends on the other side were opposed last year, and |
|
continue to be opposed. The bottom line is that no legislation |
|
is perfect, and the opposition has a right to propose changes. |
|
However, banks and financial institutions have brought |
|
reform upon themselves. It was through their carelessness and |
|
disregard for the rights of citizens that our economy nearly |
|
collapsed and spurred action by Congress in the first place. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
The last speaker on our side is Mr. Stivers, for a minute- |
|
and-a-half. |
|
Mr. Stivers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank |
|
the witnesses for being here today. It is really important that |
|
we get Title VII right, both in law as well as regulation. |
|
There are companies in my district including American Electric |
|
Power who are end users. That company has 4,000 jobs in my |
|
district. There are many other companies who use derivatives to |
|
reduce risk in their business model. |
|
And I am really concerned about the inconsistency between |
|
the SEC and the CFTC on their rules and regulations, especially |
|
with regard to the definition of a dealer or trader as well as |
|
capital requirements. |
|
And because this is so important both to reducing risk in |
|
our system, cost to consumers, and jobs in our districts, I |
|
really look forward to hearing from the witnesses and working |
|
with the witnesses to make sure we take a consistent approach |
|
that doesn't affect jobs or increase prices but looks out for |
|
the safety and soundness of the system. Thank you so much. |
|
And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. And now we introduce our first |
|
panel: the Honorable Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the U.S. |
|
Securities and Exchange Commission; the Honorable Gary Gensler, |
|
Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and |
|
the Honorable Daniel K. Tarullo, member of the Federal Reserve |
|
Board of Governors. |
|
I want to welcome all our witnesses. Without objection, |
|
your written statements will be made a part of the record, and |
|
you will each be recognized for a 5-minute summary of your |
|
testimony. |
|
Chairman Schapiro. |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MARY L. SCHAPIRO, CHAIRMAN, U.S. |
|
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (SEC) |
|
|
|
Ms. Schapiro. Thank you very much, Chairman Bachus, Ranking |
|
Member Frank, and members of the committee. Thank you for |
|
inviting me to testify today on behalf of the Securities and |
|
Exchange Commission regarding our implementation of Titles VII |
|
and VIII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer |
|
Protection Act. It is a pleasure to appear with my colleagues, |
|
Chairman Gensler and Governor Tarullo. |
|
As you know, these provisions are intended to bring greater |
|
oversight and transparency to the derivatives markets and to |
|
clear any payment and settlement activities and with that, to |
|
increase the stability of our financial system. |
|
While implementing these provisions is a complex and |
|
challenging undertaking, particularly in light of our other |
|
regulatory responsibilities, we recognize the importance of |
|
this task, and we are committed to getting it right. |
|
These rules are intended, among other things, to reduce |
|
counterparty risk by bringing transparency and centralized |
|
clearing to security-based swaps, reduce systemic risk, protect |
|
investors by increasing disclosure, and establish a regulatory |
|
framework that allows OTC derivatives markets to continue to |
|
develop in a transparent, efficient, accessible, and |
|
competitive manner. |
|
Since passage of the legislation, we have been engaging in |
|
a very open and transparent implementation process seeking |
|
input on the various rules from interested parties even before |
|
issuing new rule proposals. |
|
Our staff has sought meetings with a broad cross-section of |
|
interested parties. We joined with the CFTC in holding public |
|
roundtables. And we have been meeting regularly with other |
|
financial regulators to ensure consistent and comparable |
|
definitions and requirements across the rulemaking landscape. |
|
Today, the SEC has proposed nine swaps-related rules. Among |
|
them are: rules that would address potential conflicts of |
|
interest at security-based swap clearing agencies, execution |
|
facilities and exchanges that trade security-based swaps; rules |
|
that would specify who must report security-based swap |
|
transactions, what information must be reported, and where and |
|
when it must be reported; rules that would require security- |
|
based swap data repositories to register with the SEC; rules |
|
that would define security-based swap execution facilities and |
|
establish requirements for their registration and ongoing |
|
operation; and rules that would specify information that |
|
clearing agencies would provide to the SEC in order for us to |
|
determine if the swap must be cleared and specify the steps |
|
that end users must follow to rely on the exemption from |
|
clearing requirement. |
|
In addition, with the CFTC, we proposed rules regarding the |
|
definitions of many of the key terms under the Act. Our staff |
|
also is working closely with the Federal Reserve Board and the |
|
CFTC to develop a common framework for supervising financial |
|
market utilities, such as clearing agencies, which are |
|
designated by the Financial Stability Oversight Council as |
|
systemically important. |
|
In the coming months, we expect to propose rules regarding |
|
standards for operating and governing of clearing agencies, |
|
rules to establish registration procedures for security-based |
|
swap dealers and major security-based swap participants, and |
|
rules regarding business conduct, capital, margin, and |
|
segregation and recordkeeping requirements for dealers and |
|
participants. |
|
We will also propose joint rules with the CFTC governing |
|
the definitions of swap, security-based swap, and the |
|
regulation of mixed swap. We recognize the magnitude and |
|
interconnectedness of the derivatives market. And so, we intend |
|
to move forward at a deliberate pace, continuing to |
|
thoughtfully consider issues before proposing and adopting any |
|
specific rules. |
|
The Dodd-Frank Act provides the SEC with important tools to |
|
better meet the challenges of today's financial marketplace and |
|
fulfill our mission to protect investors; maintain fair, |
|
orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital |
|
formulation. |
|
As we proceed with implementation, we look forward to |
|
working closely with Congress, our fellow regulators, and |
|
members of the financial community and the investing public. |
|
Thank you for inviting me to share with you our progress on |
|
and plans for implementations. And I look forward to answering |
|
your questions. |
|
[The prepared statement of Chairman Schapiro can be found |
|
on page 312 of the appendix.] |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Chairman Gensler? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GARY GENSLER, CHAIRMAN, U.S. |
|
COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION (CFTC) |
|
|
|
Mr. Gensler. Good morning, Chairman Bachus--congratulations |
|
on your chairmanship--Ranking Member Frank, and members of this |
|
committee. I thank you for inviting me to speak about the Dodd- |
|
Frank Act. |
|
I am pleased to testify on behalf of the Commodity Futures |
|
Trading Commission. And I also want to thank my fellow |
|
Commissioners and all of the staff of the CFTC for all their |
|
hard work and dedication in fulfilling our mission. |
|
I also am pleased to testify along with Chairman Schapiro |
|
and Governor Tarullo. President Obama announced our nominations |
|
on the same day back in December of 2008. And I guess this is |
|
the first time we are appearing in public together at a |
|
hearing. |
|
But it reminds me that in 2008, the financial system and |
|
the financial regulatory system both failed the American |
|
public. It wasn't one or the other. But I think it was, in |
|
fact, both. The effects of that crisis reverberated throughout |
|
the American and global economies. |
|
In the United States, hundreds of billions of taxpayer |
|
dollars were put on the line to bail out the financial system, |
|
ultimately to secure the American public's economy. But |
|
millions of jobs have been lost and are still lost. |
|
Though the crisis has many causes, the unregulated swaps |
|
market played a central role. And Congress, I believe, |
|
responded by passing Dodd-Frank, specifically Title VII, to |
|
bring transparency and to lower risk in the swaps market. |
|
The CFTC is working closely with the SEC, the Federal |
|
Reserve, and other regulators to implement those features. We |
|
also are coordinating our consultation internationally. And we |
|
have received thousands of comments from the public, both |
|
before we have made proposed rules and after we have made some |
|
proposals that inform the Commission. And yes, the final rules |
|
will change based on those comments. |
|
One area where the CFTC is seeking input is with regard to |
|
the implementation of various requirements of margin, which |
|
many Members here have raised with us. And in the Dodd-Frank |
|
Act, Congress recognized different levels of risk posed by |
|
transactions between financial entities on the one hand and |
|
those involved with non-financial entities or what many people |
|
are calling end users. |
|
Consistent with this, consistent with what Congress said |
|
that the non-financial end users would be exempt from clearing, |
|
we believe at the CFTC that margin requirements should focus |
|
only on transactions between financial entities rather than |
|
those transactions with the non-financial end users that so |
|
many Members have talked about in their opening statements. |
|
To adequately fulfill our statutory mandate, the CFTC does |
|
require additional resources. The U.S. futures market today, |
|
$40 trillion notional size. The U.S. swaps market, roughly $300 |
|
trillion, roughly 7 times the size, far more complicated, and |
|
it is very important for all the end users to have |
|
transparency, openness, and competition. |
|
Yesterday, the President submitted his fiscal budget for |
|
2012 that included $308 million in funding for the CFTC. This |
|
is essential for us to be able to fulfill our mission. |
|
In 1992, our agency had 634 people. It shrank. From 1992 to |
|
2008, it was down to 440 people right in the midst of the |
|
crisis. Only last year, with the help of this committee and all |
|
of Congress, did we get back to our 1990s headcount, about 680 |
|
people. |
|
But staff is not enough. Technology is critical. The only |
|
way to really regulate these vast markets is with sufficient |
|
funding for technology to be efficient. Our small agency has to |
|
be efficient, working closely with the SEC and international |
|
regulators. |
|
Furthermore, I would say that the CFTC's funding, if it |
|
were returned to the 2008 levels when we were only 440 people, |
|
the agency would be unable to fulfill its statutory mission. |
|
Every program would be affected. |
|
It would be market surveillance, industry oversight, |
|
enforcement. We would be unable to pursue Ponzi schemes and |
|
other frauds or market manipulation. Inevitably, we would have |
|
to develop a backlog of registration applications or rule |
|
reviews or appellate filings and the like. |
|
The CFTC, I would contend, is a good investment for the |
|
American public. Its mission, ultimately, is to promote |
|
transparency, open and competitive markets which lower costs to |
|
end users and helps promote economic activity. We will get this |
|
margin thing right. We understand congressional intent on that. |
|
The CFTC is a cop on the beat that ensures markets are |
|
protected from fraud, manipulation, and other abuse. I look |
|
forward to working with Congress to ensure that we can |
|
accomplish our mission of protecting the public. Thank you and |
|
I would be happy to take questions. |
|
[The prepared statement of Chairman Gensler can be found on |
|
page 277 of the appendix.] |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Governor Tarullo? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DANIEL K. TARULLO, GOVERNOR, BOARD |
|
OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM |
|
|
|
Mr. Tarullo. Thank you, Chairman Bachus, Ranking Member |
|
Frank, and members of the committee. I appreciate this |
|
opportunity to provide the Federal Reserve Board's views on the |
|
implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. |
|
The Board's responsibilities fall into three broad areas. |
|
The first relates to consultation and coordination with other |
|
authorities, both foreign and domestic. Dodd-Frank requires |
|
that the CFTC and the SEC consult with the Board on rules to |
|
implement Title VII. |
|
In providing feedback to their request for consultation, we |
|
have tried to bring to bear our experience from supervising |
|
dealers and market infrastructure and our familiarity with |
|
markets and data sources to assist the commissions. |
|
But important coordination activities related to |
|
derivatives regulation also are occurring internationally. Most |
|
prominently, the group of 20, or ``G20,'' leaders set up |
|
commitments related to reform of the OTC derivatives market |
|
that would form a broadly consistent international regulatory |
|
approach. |
|
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has recently |
|
strengthened international capital standards for derivatives |
|
and created leverage and liquidity standards applicable to |
|
them. |
|
The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems is working |
|
with the International Organization of Securities Commissions |
|
to update international standards for systemically important |
|
clearing systems, including central counterparties that clear |
|
derivatives instruments, and trade repositories. |
|
The goal of all these efforts is to ensure a level playing |
|
field that will promote both financial stability and fair |
|
competitive conditions by preventing activity from flowing to |
|
less regulated jurisdictions. |
|
The second task given to the Federal Reserve with respect |
|
to Title VII relates to the strengthening of infrastructure. |
|
Central counterparties are given an expanded role in the |
|
clearing and settlement of swap and security-based swap |
|
transactions. |
|
If properly designed, managed, and overseen, central |
|
counterparties offer an important tool for managing |
|
counterparty credit risk and thus can reduce risk to market |
|
participants and to the financial system. |
|
Title VIII of the Act complements the role of central |
|
clearing to heighten supervisory oversight of systemically |
|
important financial market utilities. This heightened oversight |
|
is important because financial market utilities such as central |
|
counterparties concentrate risk and thus have the potential to |
|
transmit shocks throughout financial markets. |
|
As part of Title VIII, the Board was given new authority to |
|
provide emergency collateralized liquidity in unusual and |
|
exigent circumstances to systemically important financial |
|
market utilities. We are carefully considering how to implement |
|
this provision in a manner that protects taxpayers and limits |
|
the rise in moral hazard. |
|
The third task, committed to the Board by Dodd-Frank with |
|
respect to Title VII, is that of supervision. Capital and |
|
margin requirements are central to the prudential regulation of |
|
financial institutions active in derivatives markets, as well |
|
as to the internal risk management processes of those firms. |
|
The major rulemaking responsibility of the Board and other |
|
prudential regulators under Title VII is to adopt capital and |
|
margin regulations for the non-cleared swaps of banks and other |
|
prudentially regulated entities that are swap dealers and major |
|
swap participants. |
|
The Board and the other U.S. banking agencies played an |
|
active role in developing the enhanced capital leverage and |
|
liquidity regime agreed to in the Basel Committee. These |
|
requirements will strengthen the prudential framework for OTC |
|
derivatives by increasing risk-based capital and leverage |
|
requirements and by requiring banking firms to hold an |
|
additional buffer of high quality liquid assets to address |
|
potential liquidity needs resulting from their derivatives |
|
portfolios. |
|
The statute also requires the prudential regulators to |
|
adopt rules imposing initial and variation margins on non- |
|
cleared swaps to which swap dealers or major swap participants |
|
that they supervise are party. |
|
The statute directs that these margin requirements be risk- |
|
based. Within these statutory constraints and instructions, the |
|
Board and other prudential regulators are working to implement |
|
the margin provisions in a way that takes appropriate account |
|
of the relatively low systemic risk posed by most end users. |
|
For example, one approach under consideration is to allow a |
|
banking organization that is a dealer or major participant to |
|
establish a threshold with respect to an end user counterparty |
|
based on a credit exposure limit that is approved and monitored |
|
as part of the credit approval process below which the end user |
|
would not have to post margin. |
|
The Board understands that posting margins imposes costs on |
|
end users, possibly inhibiting their ability to manage their |
|
risks. The Board also believes that the margin regime should be |
|
applied only to contracts entered into after the new |
|
requirement becomes effective. |
|
Thank you for your attention, and I would be pleased to |
|
answer any questions you might have. |
|
[The prepared statement of Governor Tarullo can be found on |
|
page 323 of the appendix.] |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. There were two Presidents in |
|
recent history who actually reduced government spending as a |
|
percentage of GDP, President Clinton and President Reagan. So I |
|
say that in a bipartisan way, one on each side. A part of that |
|
was a growing economy, and I think that is going to be the key |
|
to us facing our national debt and our deficit. |
|
So I want to applaud, Chairman Gensler, your statement |
|
today. And I think, if I heard it correctly, it is that all end |
|
users would be exempt from CFTC clearing and margin |
|
requirements-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes, sir. |
|
Chairman Bachus. --the way they are on the over-the-counter |
|
swaps? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Consistent to how Congress exempted the non- |
|
financial end users from clearing, as we take up these rules at |
|
the CFTC, which we hope to in the near term, that the same end |
|
users--(h)287 is the provision in the statute, would not have |
|
any margin requirements. It is really consistent with what |
|
Congress did on the clearing requirement. |
|
The financial company consistent with what Congress did |
|
might be. Again, we are still sorting through these proposals |
|
to put them forward to the public and get comments. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I know Members on the Majority feel it is |
|
critically important that we don't impose margin requirements |
|
or clearing requirements on end users. And by end users, you |
|
said non-financial companies, these that do not hedge risk as a |
|
part of their inherent business. |
|
Mr. Gensler. That is correct. Hedging is a really important |
|
thing. Tens of thousands of commercial end users use these |
|
products, used them successfully before 2008, and need to use |
|
them for our economy to prosper. Dodd-Frank at its core though |
|
promotes transparent, open, and competitive markets. And |
|
markets that are transparent and competitive get the lowest |
|
pricing. |
|
I believe Dodd-Frank at its core will lower costs to these |
|
commercial end users because of the transparency and |
|
competitiveness and also because they will be less prone to |
|
risk. The American public did have to stand behind that $700 |
|
billion in the TARP. So it is a balancing that actually |
|
Congress put forward. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Of course, the $700 billion, none of that |
|
was a result of commercial non-financial end users, yes? |
|
Mr. Gensler. But it did at its core have a risk from the |
|
unregulated swaps marketplace, particularly credit default |
|
swaps. And then we all know the story of AIG. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I appreciate you and I--do you need the |
|
cooperation of Congress? Do we need legislation to clarify that |
|
these over-the-counter swaps will not be required to have |
|
margin requirements for clearing? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We at the CFTC believe that the Act is well- |
|
written and it gives us sufficient authority to ensure that |
|
such margin requirements on the swap dealers do not cover the |
|
non-financial end users. But that authority is there for us to |
|
move forward. Of course, it will be subject to notice and |
|
comment, public comment. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Governor Tarullo, you looked at that |
|
provision. Do you agree? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Mr. Chairman, what we have done is to read the |
|
statute as it is written. The statute as it is written tells us |
|
that each registered swap dealer and major swap participant for |
|
which there is a prudential regulator has to meet minimum |
|
capital and minimum initial and variation margin requirements. |
|
That applies broadly and there is obviously no exception |
|
provided for any class of counterparties. |
|
However, the statute goes on to say that these standards |
|
shall be risk-based. And bringing to bear the risk-based or |
|
systemic risk-based perspective, which we have tried to bring |
|
to our activities on Title VII generally, what we are thinking |
|
in terms of is a risk-based approach to margin requirements |
|
which would recognize that for end users, generally there is |
|
much less risk associated with derivatives transactions. |
|
So in essence we will create--if this approach turns out to |
|
be the one we adopt, and it is the one that is being worked on |
|
internally now--these thresholds within which or under which |
|
margins would not be required. |
|
And precisely because end users in general present |
|
substantially less systemic risk--and in many cases no systemic |
|
risk--the threshold for end users would be substantially higher |
|
than those for financial market participants. |
|
Chairman Bachus. All right, thank you. Let me very briefly, |
|
I think the proper sequencing of your rule needs to have a |
|
definition of swap and commercial risk prior to some of your |
|
other definitions. Are you aware that you are going to need to |
|
define those terms fairly soon? |
|
Mr. Gensler. The statute defines many terms. Jointly with |
|
the SEC, we made proposals in December on ``swap dealer'', |
|
``major swap participant'' and the like. The comment period |
|
actually closes February 22nd. |
|
And what we encourage the public to do, and we posted this |
|
on our Web site, is if you have comments on any of our other |
|
proposals at the CFTC, even if the comment period is closed, |
|
please include those comments in the definition comments so |
|
that we can consider them. |
|
We do have discretion, even after a comment period is |
|
closed, to get those comments to the right files, to the right |
|
team. I know as a Commissioner, we will read them. |
|
Chairman Bachus. But the definition of ``swap'' and |
|
``commercial risk'', your other definitions are going to depend |
|
on that-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. We also put out the definition of ``commercial |
|
risk'' in December-- |
|
Chairman Bachus. Okay. |
|
Mr. Gensler. --and that is open through the same period of |
|
February 22nd. We look forward to hearing broadly from the |
|
public whether we got that right, consistent with what Congress |
|
did. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I would just add, I think we all share your |
|
concern that we get the sequencing right so that particularly |
|
those who have to comment understand the full scope of the |
|
potential implications of all the rules on them, whether or not |
|
they are going to be determined to be a dealer or a major swap |
|
participant or some other kind of participant in the |
|
marketplace. |
|
So we have gotten a lot of that done. The not-so-narrow but |
|
important issues of swap, mixed swap, security-based swap are-- |
|
they are basic statutory definitions, but obviously there is |
|
more work for us to do there and we are very committed to |
|
getting those out quickly. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Ranking Member Frank? |
|
Mr. Frank. Thank you. Let me ask Mr. Gensler, you talked |
|
about, and Mr. Tarullo has concurred and I assume Ms. Schapiro |
|
does too, that we are not going to see margin requirements |
|
imposed on end users and they don't have to clear. |
|
I do want to address though the perception some may have |
|
that therefore nothing has changed. You did mention the |
|
transparency. So what will be the effect with regard to end |
|
users? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Even the uncleared swaps have to be reported |
|
to the swap data repository and public-- |
|
Chairman Bachus. Which means the price will be made public? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes. Price and calling information, yes. |
|
Mr. Frank. Which is what we--I will tell you that I had a |
|
visit that validated that in my mind from a couple of people in |
|
the financial industry. It was an older one and a younger one |
|
from two companies. And the younger one said that they had |
|
these problems. And I said, we are not going to go after the |
|
end users and all we are talking about is price being made |
|
public. |
|
And he said yes, that is what we don't like, then people |
|
could come in ahead of us. And I asked if that meant that he |
|
was afraid of competition? And his older colleague said, we are |
|
not really pressing that argument. So I just want to make it |
|
clear we are not talking about margin requirements and clearing |
|
requirements. |
|
We are talking about reporting requirements, which have, if |
|
I am correct, the advantage first of all of giving the end |
|
users some ability to get a better price because they will not |
|
now be captives and they will get to know what other people are |
|
charging. |
|
And secondly, you won't have an unknown quantity of those |
|
in the economy. Will there be mechanisms for us therefore |
|
keeping track of what the totals are that are out there, Ms. |
|
Schapiro? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I think the transparency is really the |
|
critical piece here because it allows market participants to |
|
understand, particularly with respect to post-trade |
|
transparency, at what price those transactions have occurred |
|
and that will encourage price competition. |
|
There is a provision that will allow for blocked trades to |
|
be disseminated on a delayed basis so that the concern about |
|
the potential for front running a large position or front |
|
running the hedging of a large position should be able to be |
|
dealt with through the delayed dissemination there. |
|
Mr. Frank. Because, as someone said, we are talking about |
|
making it more pro-competitive-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Absolutely. |
|
Mr. Frank. Because people can't be competitive if they |
|
don't know the number. Now, I want to just ask you about the |
|
budget proposals. You have been urged to take more time but |
|
also be more thorough. |
|
At the levels that have been proposed in the budget that |
|
came out of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. Gensler, what |
|
effect will that have on your capacity to accommodate what |
|
members of this committee are asking you to do? |
|
Mr. Gensler. The number, I believe, was to take us from |
|
$168 million in the continuing resolution down to $112 million. |
|
We would have to have a significant curtailment of our staff |
|
and resources. We would not be able to police or ensure |
|
transparent markets in futures or swaps. |
|
Mr. Frank. So that is--the new responsibilities you get for |
|
the derivatives market, including primarily, as you said, the |
|
financial part, the AIGs, the credit default swaps, you would |
|
not be able to undertake those responsibilities? |
|
Mr. Gensler. There is no doubt in my mind. We would have to |
|
go from 680 staff, actually smaller than 440 if it was for the |
|
whole year because we are already halfway through the year. We |
|
would have to shrink even further than that. |
|
Mr. Frank. Ms. Schapiro, you were given in the bill new |
|
responsibilities, investor protection and elsewhere. What would |
|
the effect of the proposed budget be on your ability to carry |
|
those out? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I am sorry. It will have a very real effect |
|
on the SEC's ability not just with respect to Dodd-Frank |
|
implementation but also with respect to our core mission, which |
|
is already being impacted by the continuing resolution. But |
|
most particularly, we have responsibilities now for hedge fund |
|
examinations starting after hedge funds are registered in July. |
|
So we have to build a registration capability. We have to |
|
be able to examine and have examiners deal with hedge funds. We |
|
will be recipients of large amounts of data that are required |
|
under the Act for systemic risk reporting purposes for hedge |
|
funds, being a mechanism for managing-- |
|
So let me say, because I don't want to go over the time, |
|
and the systemic risk in the data is important again. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --right and over-the-counter derivatives |
|
surveillance. We cannot rely on an SRO in that space. That task |
|
will fall to the SEC. |
|
Mr. Frank. I remember when Mr. Bernanke told us in 2008 |
|
that he was going to have to advance $80 billion to AIG. And a |
|
week later, they needed another $90 billion or $100 billion |
|
because nobody, including AIG, had any idea what the exposure |
|
was. And that presumably will no longer be the case. |
|
But just to summarize with regard to hedge funds and |
|
derivatives, many of us believe they were insufficiently, not |
|
just regulated, but we didn't have much information about them, |
|
that they were a blank slate. And we have with hedge funds |
|
fairly light regulation but registration and monitoring. With |
|
derivatives, the financial entities are regulated but the end |
|
users are not. |
|
But I take it that if you were to get the budget levels |
|
that were proposed in the bill that came out of the |
|
Appropriations Committee, neither one of your agencies would be |
|
able to do anything significant regarding your new |
|
responsibilities involving derivatives and hedge funds. Is that |
|
correct? |
|
Mr. Gensler. That is correct. We would basically be |
|
involved in a large reduction in force, about 65 percent-- |
|
Mr. Frank. Right, but you--the effect of that would-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. --the end users wouldn't benefit from any |
|
transparency. |
|
Mr. Frank. Ms. Schapiro? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I don't know whether it will be in reduction |
|
of force or technology decline, but we will certainly not be |
|
able to operationalize many of the rules that are we |
|
implementing as a result of the new law. |
|
Mr. Frank. Thank you, and I should mention just one more |
|
thing. The total amount of money for the two agencies together |
|
that you are asking--that is in the President's budget is how |
|
much? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. President sought for the Securities and |
|
Exchange Commission $1.4 billion. |
|
Mr. Frank. And Mr. Gensler? |
|
Mr. Gensler. In 2012, 308, in 2011, 261. |
|
Mr. Frank. All right, so for this current year, about a |
|
billion-and-a-half. And Ms. Schapiro, how much money does the |
|
SEC take in to the Federal Government? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I believe last year our budget was $1.1 |
|
billion and we brought into the Treasury on just from |
|
transaction fees about $1.3 billion to $1.4-- |
|
Mr. Frank. So at the expense of getting adequate |
|
regulation, we are going to turn you into a profit center. |
|
Thank you. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Frank. |
|
Mr. Hensarling? |
|
Mr. Hensarling. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Gensler, in your testimony, I believe you said |
|
something along the lines that unregulated swap markets played |
|
a central role in our economic crisis. I am assuming you are |
|
mainly alluding to AIG. Is that correct? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes, but also I think it helped accelerate the |
|
asset bubble in housing, credit default swaps more generally. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. Okay, just to remind us all of the record, |
|
in March of 2009, the head of the OTS, Mr. Polakoff, testified |
|
to a question that I asked. Again, in retrospect it wasn't the |
|
lack of authority. It wasn't the lack of resources. It wasn't |
|
the lack of expertise. You just flat out made a mistake. Is |
|
that a correct assessment? Answer, yes, sir. In 2004, we failed |
|
to assess how bad the mortgage economy, the real estate economy |
|
would become in 2008. |
|
So at least the regulator in question thought they had the |
|
authority and the expertise. I peeked into the testimony, into |
|
the testimony of the panel to follow yours. So to some extent, |
|
I am going to try to foist a bit of a conversation here. We are |
|
going to hear from a gentleman, Craig Reiners with the |
|
MillerCoors Company. |
|
And quoting from his testimony, ``A requirement for end |
|
users like MillerCoors to post margin to its counterparties |
|
would have a serious impact on our ability to invest in and |
|
grow our business. Though end users are not directly subject to |
|
the trading requirements, excessive capital requirements |
|
imposed on our counterparties aimed at forcing end users onto |
|
regulated exchanges, execution platforms and clearinghouses |
|
could significantly increase our cost.'' |
|
Chairman Gensler, a provision that was supposedly aimed at |
|
Wall Street may be increasing the cost of a six pack. And I |
|
think you just got the attention of the American people. |
|
[laughter] |
|
Has your agency considered the pass-through cost concerns |
|
in your economic analysis as you develop these new rules? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I read very closely the testimony of |
|
MillerCoors. We have met with MillerCoors. We are aware and |
|
focused on the cost of a six pack because we also oversee |
|
agricultural markets. And I would say our intention is not to |
|
have margin requirements apply to an end user such as |
|
MillerCoors. So very directly to his point, we are very focused |
|
on his testimony and his concerns. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. We will be monitoring your progress at the |
|
local convenience store. I also saw testimony from Mr. Terry |
|
Duffy, executive chairman of the CME Group. And he testified, |
|
``Entities such as CME often cannot fully anticipate the |
|
meaning of a proposed rule when that proposed rule is reliant |
|
on another rule that is not yet in its final form.'' |
|
For example, rules dealing with the definitions of swaps, |
|
security-based swaps, swap dealer as you well know, Mr. |
|
Chairman, the list goes on. Mr. Duffy goes on to say as such, |
|
``They must be established before interested parties can |
|
meaningfully address other proposed rules.'' |
|
So your Commission, I believe, has proposed some rules, |
|
comment periods have closed on other rules, and yet many |
|
commentators don't even know without the proper definition |
|
clarity whether or not certain rules will apply to them. So how |
|
can you have a meaningful comment period, Chairman Gensler? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I have read Mr. Duffy's testimony very closely |
|
as well, and we have indicated to Mr. Duffy, with whom we are |
|
meeting at 2:45 today, that we want all of the CMEs and all of |
|
the public's comments. |
|
If these rules have been staggered partly because we are |
|
humans, we need to just move them out. But if you have comments |
|
on earlier proposals where closed periods have happened and |
|
they relate to this definitions rule, include them. |
|
Send them in. We will use our discretion. We will |
|
distribute them. We will get them into the right comment files, |
|
just like this entire hearing, I think we are going to put in |
|
our comment file. Everything that you all have to say is |
|
important to our process as well. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. I think the gentleman makes a good |
|
argument. I hope you can find a better way to run a railroad |
|
because I think again we are dealing with trillions of dollars. |
|
We are dealing with capital. We are dealing with jobs. And I |
|
just think it is so critical that we have an effective |
|
rulemaking process. |
|
I see my time is winding down. One more question for you, |
|
Chairman Gensler. I understand that you are advocating the |
|
adoption of position limits even for passive investors such as |
|
commodity index funds. Is that correct? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Consistent with the Dodd-Frank Act, we have |
|
put out a proposal in January and we look at forward to the |
|
public comments. So I think it is consistent with what-- |
|
Mr. Hensarling. Does the CFTC have any data to indicate how |
|
the proposed position limit rule would affect the operation of |
|
these passive funds? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We publish data regularly on passive funds or |
|
index investments in the marketplace, and that is on our Web |
|
site. We have included some of that data in the preamble in the |
|
rule, but we look forward to the public comment in the proposed |
|
rules on agricultural, metals, and energy position limits. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. I see my time has expired. Thank you, Mr. |
|
Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Ms. Waters? |
|
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am very |
|
concerned about the representation that Dodd-Frank is going to |
|
lead to fewer jobs. And I understand that many of those who are |
|
critics have been citing a study by the Business Roundtable |
|
that claims that the margin requirements in Dodd-Frank will |
|
result in 100,000 fewer jobs. First, just quickly, let me ask |
|
each of our witnesses today. |
|
First, Ms. Schapiro, have you seen this study? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. That was released yesterday, so yes, I did |
|
have an opportunity to look at it, but I have not studied it in |
|
detail. |
|
Ms. Waters. Mr. Gensler, have you seen the study? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I read the survey, the Keybridge survey last |
|
night around midnight on the Web. |
|
Ms. Waters. And Mr. Tarullo, have you seen the study?' |
|
Mr. Tarullo. I did read it. Yes, ma'am. |
|
Ms. Waters. Can you tell us how effective regulation of the |
|
derivatives market can actually help to save jobs? Let me start |
|
with Mr. Gensler. |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think that at the core, we lost over 7 |
|
million jobs in this country because both the financial system |
|
and regulatory system failed the test and swaps were part of |
|
that. So I think it saves jobs by just making the whole system |
|
safer for America. |
|
It also helps end users have more transparency and lower |
|
costs, competition in the marketplace. As long as we handle I |
|
think congressional intent on this margin and many of the other |
|
end user issues, which we want to work with you on, |
|
transparency promotes economic activity, transparency, and |
|
competition in the market. |
|
Ms. Waters. Thank you. |
|
Ms. Schapiro, I agree with Mr. Gensler that failed |
|
regulation caused a loss of jobs. So how can better regulation |
|
cause a loss of jobs? Can you discuss a little bit how better |
|
regulation, effective regulations can help to save jobs? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I think effective regulation can promote |
|
capital formation, which is in essence the creation of jobs. |
|
When companies feel that they can go to the market and raise |
|
capital, that their stocks will be priced fairly, that |
|
investors will have the opportunity to invest in their company, |
|
buy their shares of stock and sell those when they want to, it |
|
enables companies to raise the money necessary to create jobs. |
|
By the same token, when investors have confidence in the |
|
safety and the soundness of our financial institutions and the |
|
regulatory regime, they have a level of comfort in investing. |
|
So I think there are a number of studies that will show that |
|
good regulation, intelligent regulation--it is not |
|
overregulation, not underregulation--can actually lower the |
|
cost of capital for industry. |
|
Ms. Waters. Mr. Tarullo? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Ms. Waters, I would just say that the study to |
|
which you alluded acknowledged that what it did was a kind of |
|
quick and dirty economic assessment because the study didn't |
|
have access to all the data they would need to give a more |
|
sophisticated response. |
|
What they basically did was to say, ``Based on our survey, |
|
here is what we think the relative level of utilization of |
|
derivatives is. And we are going to multiply that by a margin |
|
requirement which we think might be imposed. And that gives us |
|
the cost--that the cost of the margin requirements--'' |
|
Ms. Waters. I am sorry, so you are saying it was not a |
|
scientific study? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. They couldn't--they were not being misleading |
|
in the least. They basically just said, ``We are going on the |
|
basis of a survey and extrapolating. We don't really have the |
|
data.'' |
|
But I think, ma'am, the most important point to make is |
|
that they were assuming that there would be margin requirements |
|
applicable to all these end users surveyed. And what you have |
|
heard this morning is that is not going to be the case. |
|
Ms. Waters. And so can you tell us how effective regulation |
|
of the derivatives market can actually help to save jobs? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Yes. From our point of view again, which is |
|
one of systemic risk and trying to contain systemic risk, I |
|
think the keys are always watching for leverage and |
|
transparency. And because in the absence of transparency, you |
|
have ineffectively operating markets, and as we see, you can |
|
have runs during crisis periods. |
|
And in the presence of excessive leverage, you can have |
|
collapses of institutions and markets as well. So I think a |
|
well-honed, well-conceived regulatory system in the financial |
|
sector is one that is designed to allow the allocation of |
|
capital to its most productive uses. |
|
Ms. Waters. So basically, all three of our witnesses at the |
|
table today really do believe that an effective regulation of |
|
the derivatives market can actually help to save jobs. Is that |
|
correct? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Yes, although, of course, ``effective'' is |
|
what everybody is going to be discussing as we go through this |
|
regulatory process. |
|
Ms. Waters. Thank you very much. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Royce? |
|
Mr. Royce. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gensler, as to the |
|
application of the CFTC proposed rules to foreign |
|
counterparties and to foreign dealers, I was going to ask you |
|
about a concern here over regulatory arbitrage and over the |
|
fact that they are going to wait this out. |
|
You implement your policies here. We see more and more |
|
derivatives business go to Europe. And at the end of the day, |
|
we have American financial companies severely disadvantaged |
|
vis-a-vis their foreign competitors. |
|
I mentioned in my opening statement that in the long run, |
|
onerous rules that are unnecessary will without doubt drive |
|
capital to non-U.S. markets. And you have testified here that |
|
you are in contact with regulators in Europe, you expect them |
|
to follow the American approach, but how do you have those |
|
concrete assurances? Do we have a Memorandum of Understanding |
|
with European regulators? Tell me how you assure us of that |
|
fact? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We are working very closely--all three of our |
|
agencies are working very closely with the Europeans and Asian |
|
regulators. We actually share our pre-proposal documents, |
|
memos-- |
|
Mr. Royce. Right. |
|
Mr. Gensler. --and drafts with them. I think, depending |
|
upon budgets, I guess, but I will be back over in Europe in |
|
March in front of the European Parliament possibly. |
|
So we are working very closely. Their proposals, I am |
|
optimistic, are quite consistent on clearing this end-user |
|
approach, swap data repositories, the dealer regimes. They are |
|
a little bit time-wise behind us, a little later than us. |
|
Mr. Royce. Yes, they are going to be later. And I don't |
|
know where Brazil and Toronto and Singapore are going to be |
|
here, but I think it is going to be very hard to try to |
|
convince us that American firms are not going to lose business |
|
to European competitors when that is already happening now. |
|
Let me ask you another question, and that has to do with |
|
the fact I know today the SEC and the CFTC, you are saying they |
|
are trying desperately to get this collaborative environment. |
|
But on the most important rules, you are failing to get that |
|
kind of collaboration between the two agencies. |
|
The differences in the derivatives markets you oversee are |
|
virtually nonexistent. There is a lot of overlap there in |
|
products and users. And the fact is that you insist on |
|
producing two very different sets of regulations here. |
|
And if this is the end result, end users and investors are |
|
not going to be better off. It is going to be a boon for |
|
foreign companies. I will just give you a few of the--in terms |
|
of what is discussed in the business press--real-time |
|
reporting, where the agencies have different rules for the |
|
definition of what real-time means. |
|
First, block trade definition and reporting time for block |
|
trades, the number of data fields that must be reported is |
|
different, which entity is tasked with submitting trade |
|
information to the public, all different. |
|
Second, we have the block trade definition where the SEC |
|
wisely asked for further public comment and will likely embrace |
|
different definitions, depending on asset class and liquidity, |
|
whereas, the CFTC has offered a rigid, one-size-fits-all |
|
approach that many argue is overly restrictive. |
|
And then third, we have the swap execution facility rules, |
|
where the CFTC requires sending a request for a quote to at |
|
least five liquidity providers. The SEC takes, I think, a more |
|
reasonable approach here in allowing the customers to choose |
|
how many liquidity providers it will request quotes from. |
|
But the bottom line is, it is different in every case. And |
|
I would like your comment on that as well, if you would. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I would be happy to comment on that, |
|
Congressman. I would say a couple of things. One is that we are |
|
working very closely together and there are many more things |
|
that are the same than that are different, although, you have |
|
pointed out, I think, some important differences. |
|
Mr. Royce. I picked up 50-some in the business press that |
|
have been pointed out-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I will-- |
|
Mr. Royce. --where they differ. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. We are still at the proposal stage so there |
|
is lots of opportunity through the comment process and through |
|
our extensive meetings with industry and others to bring these |
|
rules closer together. |
|
And when we propose something, for example, it is different |
|
than the CFTC. We actually ask people what would be a better |
|
approach? Is the CFTC's approach a better, more realistic |
|
approach or is the SEC approach better, or is there yet a third |
|
way to go about dealing with this? |
|
I would say also that there are some differences in the |
|
markets that we are regulating. The security-based swap |
|
markets, which really just represents about 5 percent of the |
|
notional value of the swap markets, trade quite differently |
|
than the interest rate markets do, for example. And so, to some |
|
extent, the differences in the marketplace will dictate--some |
|
things that are different. |
|
But I will--let me please agree with you though, that where |
|
our rules are going to fall upon institutions that are |
|
contracting and working in both markets, it really is incumbent |
|
upon us to make them as close to identical as possible so that |
|
institutions aren't put under the burden of two separate sets |
|
of rules. |
|
Where the rules go to, for example, differences in the way |
|
orders might interact within the marketplace, there might be |
|
some justification for slightly different rules because of the |
|
nature of the products that are being traded. |
|
Mr. Royce. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Chairman, I have |
|
questions for the record, without objection, on position |
|
limits, which were meant to curtail speculation but could end |
|
up hitting the long-term passive investors. I meant to ask that |
|
question, but, I will put that in the record and then get the |
|
response from the witnesses. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. All right. Thank you, Mr. Royce. |
|
Mrs. Maloney? |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank all of |
|
the panelists for your public service and your testimony today. |
|
In the continuing resolution, there is--literally on the Floor |
|
this week, there is a drastic cut in funds from what the |
|
President requested in his 2011 budget for the SEC and the |
|
CFTC. |
|
And our Republican colleagues have proposed that the SEC |
|
budget and the CFTC budget be cut back to 2008 levels. Now, |
|
that is the level and the year that the economy cratered and |
|
fell. And I can hardly imagine that any of my colleagues are |
|
pleased with the level of oversight that was performed by our |
|
regulatory agencies in 2008. |
|
So cutting them even more than what they had then, I feel |
|
will make it impossible for them to implement Dodd-Frank and be |
|
responsible regulators. According to the Inspector General of |
|
the SEC, the Republican proposal would force the agency, the |
|
SEC, to cut roughly 600 in staff. Is that correct, Ms. |
|
Schapiro? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I believe that is correct, although I will |
|
say, I think the budget proposal coming out of the House is not |
|
to put the SEC all the way back to 2008 levels, although it |
|
does represent a cut off of the continuing resolution number. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. I would say that if you put it in perspective |
|
with the numbers, a total loss of household wealth as a result |
|
of this ``Great Recession'' has been estimated to be |
|
approximately $14 trillion and the over-the-counter derivatives |
|
market is valued at about $600 trillion. And in 2010, the GDP |
|
of the entire world was just over $74 trillion and the infamous |
|
flash-crash on May 6th temporarily wiped out over $1 trillion. |
|
So it seems to me rather penny wise and pound foolish not |
|
to invest in the agencies that are required to come forward |
|
with the new rules, the new studies, and to prevent the Madoffs |
|
of the future. Now, as I understand it, and correct me if I am |
|
wrong, the Dodd-Frank bill calls for 95 new rules from the SEC. |
|
Is that correct? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. It depends a little bit on how you count but |
|
that has been the ballpark estimate, yes. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. And 61 from the CFTC, right? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We think it is more on the order of 45. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Forty-five? Okay. |
|
Mr. Gensler. That is right. But I don't know. People can |
|
count different ways. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. And how many studies are you required--I know |
|
the bill had 60 studies--to do? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. The SEC is required to do 20 studies--more |
|
than 20 studies and to create 5 new offices within the agency. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. How in the world are you going to do that |
|
with a reduced budget? Can you hire the people to oversee the |
|
new--the derivatives and everything that you have to do? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. No. Clearly, we will not be able to |
|
operationalize the rules that we are promulgating and |
|
ultimately adopting under Dodd-Frank under that budget |
|
scenario. I will say, if we were able to hire people, we can |
|
get them. |
|
We are getting amazing talent willing to come to the |
|
Securities and Exchange Commission at this time and work with |
|
us on all of these important issues. But we are under a hiring |
|
restriction right now. |
|
Mr. Gensler. And I would just say this: The staff of the |
|
CFTC has been excellent under this uncertainty of the budget. |
|
They are just doing terrific work. I think we will be able to, |
|
working with the SEC and the public, continue writing rules, |
|
but there is no doubt that in 2012, we will not be able to |
|
oversee the markets and ensure the transparency in the markets. |
|
If we were taken back to 2008 levels, however, then we |
|
would be in a very different circumstance because we are in a |
|
unique circumstance where we were just growing back to where we |
|
were in the 1990s, so taking us back to 2008 would have to |
|
entail, unfortunately, significant reductions in force. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. The OTC derivatives market is valued at about |
|
$600 trillion, and in 2010, the budget for the CFTC was just |
|
$169 million. So as my colleagues call for more oversight and |
|
accountability, we certainly need to give the tools to the |
|
oversight agencies to get the job done. So I certainly hope |
|
that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support |
|
appropriate funding for the CFTC and the SEC. |
|
There has been talk that we are not competitive in the |
|
world. Some of my colleagues said that we have a competitive |
|
disadvantage, but with Basel II the capital requirements are |
|
the same. Is that correct? Our capital requirements are not |
|
higher, are they, Mr. Tarullo? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. That is correct. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. So we are in an even playing field on the |
|
capital requirements and the leverage requirements? Are we on |
|
an equal playing field there? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Yes. We have internationally agreed upon a |
|
leverage ratio, yes. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. So do you believe that our markets are in |
|
some way disadvantaged-- |
|
Mr. Tarullo. First-- |
|
Mrs. Maloney. --because we have regulations? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Certainly with respect to-- |
|
Mrs. Maloney. But a regulation that didn't appear to work |
|
in 2008. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mrs. Maloney, we will let him answer the |
|
question. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Okay. Yes. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Certainly with respect to capital, we have |
|
been able to standardize across all the members of the Basel |
|
Committee. There is obviously still discussion going on about |
|
the standards to be applicable to central counterparties as |
|
such. Those are the ones that Chairman Gensler was referring to |
|
a few moments ago. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mrs. Biggert? |
|
Mrs. Maloney. But my time has expired. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This first question |
|
is for Chairman Gensler. Currently, the CFTC is looking at |
|
setting position limits on swap data. And my concern is--and I |
|
know I asked this question, I think of you and of Secretary |
|
Geithner in 2009--whether there was an analysis that looked at |
|
the critical and necessary data regarding this? |
|
And it seems--I am concerned that--and in fact, multiple |
|
futures exchanges have raised concern that without this |
|
critical data, there will be improperly set position limits |
|
which would negatively impact liquidity and effective price |
|
risk hedging. And it seems like you are putting the cart before |
|
the horse if you don't have the study of this data that is so |
|
important. |
|
And, I think it--not analyzing it before you put a new |
|
regulation in, and my concern, not only here, but there is talk |
|
of some dealers looking at moving abroad, and we are going to |
|
lose those jobs. Could you comment on that? |
|
Mr. Gensler. The proposal the Commission put out in January |
|
is consistent with the congressional provisions that we put |
|
something out with regard to the physical commodities, metals, |
|
energies, and agriculture. The agency has had, in working with |
|
the exchanges, position limits and most of these for what is |
|
called the spot month, but also looking at the other months, |
|
what is called the back months. |
|
And there really would be three steps to this. A proposal |
|
phase--we have asked the public for comment on the very data |
|
that you are talking about. We are going to be well-informed. |
|
Final rules will not be taken into consideration until we get |
|
comments. We got 8,200 comments on an earlier position limit |
|
proposal a year ago. No doubt, we will get a lot of public |
|
input, and it will be helpful. |
|
We changed the proposal based on those earlier comments. We |
|
will probably change the final based on these comments. |
|
The third phase is actually getting data from the market |
|
when the swap data repositories are stood up, and we anticipate |
|
that that is going to take some time. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. But that is really crucial in how you are |
|
going to be able to set those limits so that there won't--there |
|
won't be something done before you get that data? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We have actually anticipated that the proposal |
|
says that even once it is a final rule, it would not be |
|
implemented until there is data upon which to apply a formula. |
|
Position limits historically have been done based on a formula |
|
of the total size of the market. How big is the market and so-- |
|
Mrs. Biggert. But my concern is that we are going to have |
|
some of these traders that are going to go abroad because they |
|
can't wait, with all the comments and then to have the--to set |
|
that later on. It seems like you are putting the cart before |
|
the horse in not having the data before you really set those |
|
limits. |
|
Mr. Gensler. Again, Congress asked us to put proposals out. |
|
We are soliciting comments. It is very important to get |
|
comments on these 28 physical commodity markets. We have had |
|
position limits in the agricultural markets for decades. There |
|
were positions in the energy markets and metals markets in the |
|
1980s and 1990s, in fact, all the way through 2001. |
|
And we look forward to public comments. But it does say in |
|
the proposal that they would not go into effect until they are |
|
based on the actual statistics on the size of the futures |
|
market as well as the swaps market. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Okay. Now Congress may have been wrong in how |
|
they designated that should be done, but--let me go on to |
|
another question. |
|
Chairman Schapiro, the Department of Labor has proposed a |
|
new definition of ``fiduciary'' which would significantly |
|
modify 35 years of established law defining who is an |
|
investment advice fiduciary and then the SEC has completed |
|
their 913 study which looks at the standard of care required of |
|
broker-dealers and investment advisors providing personal |
|
investment advice about securities to retail customers. |
|
Both of these proposals will be setting advice standards |
|
for retail IRAs. Have the DOE and the SEC consulted on these |
|
proposals or is there something that could come out differently |
|
as opposed to-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Congresswoman, you are right, we published |
|
our investment advisor broker-dealer fiduciary study several |
|
weeks ago. We were very clear there to say that it does not |
|
implicate the fiduciary standard under ERISA. |
|
And you are also correct that the Department of Labor has |
|
recently proposed to expand the fiduciary definition under |
|
ERISA and that has the potential to affect some ongoing |
|
arrangements and relationships between broker-dealers and their |
|
IRA clients. |
|
We are very prepared to work with the Department of Labor. |
|
We have offered any information or expertise that we can |
|
provide to them about the regulation, in particular of broker- |
|
dealers in the context of advising ERISA accounts. And we will |
|
continue to reach out to them and see if we can be of help. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. But have you actually been in contact with |
|
them? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Okay. Thank you. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Watt? |
|
Mr. Watt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to use my |
|
time here to kind of zero in on the part of this that I had the |
|
most involvement in, Section 733, which became known as the |
|
Watt-Meeks amendment, and ask a couple of questions about the |
|
proposed regulations that cover that section. |
|
It seems to me that one of the great accomplishments of |
|
Dodd-Frank was to pull derivatives trading out of the shadows |
|
and into the sunlight, requiring standardized swaps to be |
|
traded on swap execution facilities or exchanges that create |
|
pre-trade price transparency. |
|
Section 733, known as the Watt-Meeks amendment, even |
|
includes a rule of construction and directs the SEC and the |
|
CFTC to update their rules to require the use of the best |
|
technology available for creating pre-trade price transparency. |
|
We were intentional in not asking for flexibility for swap |
|
dealers. When swap dealers had flexibility before Dodd-Frank, |
|
they chose the least transparent method of trading, which was |
|
telephone calls. So instead, Congress said that swap execution |
|
facilities must give multiple participants the ability to trade |
|
swaps by accepting bids and offers made by other participants |
|
using the best technology for pre-trade price transparency. |
|
Chairman Gensler, it seems to me that your draft rule comes |
|
pretty close to doing what we were trying to get to. Am I |
|
correct that you require a swap execution facility to include a |
|
central trading screen where everyone can see everyone else's |
|
prices? |
|
Am I clear that you are not going to allow swap dealers to |
|
trade only on some dark corner of the platform where one |
|
participant asks for quotes that only he or she can trade and |
|
that dealers will have to put their prices on the central |
|
trading screen? Am I correct that is what you intend? |
|
Mr. Gensler. It is correct that the proposal brings |
|
transparency, that the facilities have to allow any participant |
|
to put a live bid or offer. So everybody can see that. |
|
Mr. Watt. Okay. All right. |
|
Mr. Gensler. But no one will be required to do it. There is |
|
no market maker obligation. It is just if you want to, you get |
|
a choice. But the end users would also have a choice if they |
|
didn't want to put a firm bid or a firm offer, they could also |
|
use a request for quotes. |
|
Mr. Watt. All right-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. But you have that-- |
|
Mr. Watt. --and then let me go to Chairman Schapiro. |
|
Because it seems to me that your proposal differs and hasn't |
|
taken Congress' directive as seriously as the CFTC is, because |
|
you are allowing security-based swap execution facilities--and |
|
I am quoting from your proposal ``could simply enable every |
|
participant to choose to send a single request for a quote to |
|
just a single liquidity provider,'' which seems to me not to be |
|
what we are trying to get to here. |
|
Are you all interpreting these things differently? Or are |
|
you setting up a situation here where you are going to have the |
|
potential for a race to the bottom with the two agencies |
|
potentially interpreting this thing differently or setting up a |
|
different set of rules and enabling participants to argue that |
|
the lowest common denominator ought to be at play here? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I don't think so, Congressman, and we have |
|
taken it very seriously but we have taken a slightly different |
|
approach, I think in part dictated by the fact that the |
|
security-based swap market, which were swaps on single issuers |
|
or of narrow indices of securities, are really quite different |
|
than the much more liquid foreign exchange or interest rate or |
|
commodity swap markets. |
|
So we thought that it did dictate for a slightly different |
|
approach in our proposal. And again, it is just a proposal. We |
|
would not permit single dealer platforms under our proposal. |
|
What we would do is define SEF as a trading platform that |
|
allows more than one participant to interact with the trading |
|
interest of more than one participant. |
|
And under that, the quote requesting party must have the |
|
ability to send a single request for quotes to all the |
|
participants on that trading platform. But if that party also |
|
seeks to limit the number of participants to whom their quote |
|
goes to, they would have, at their option only, not at the |
|
SEF's option, the capability to do that. |
|
Mr. Gensler. And if I might say, where the two agency's |
|
proposals line up is both of them say that to be an execution |
|
platform, you must allow any market participant, even if you |
|
all weren't in Congress and you set out to be a market |
|
participant, you could get in and make a live bid, a live |
|
offer, put your capital at risk and compete. |
|
Markets work best when they are transparent and there is |
|
competition, and both rules have that. There is a little bit of |
|
difference on this request for quote approach, and we are |
|
looking for public comment to see if they should be synched up |
|
as well. |
|
Mr. Watt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you, Mr. Watt. |
|
Mr. Garrett, the subcommittee chairman? |
|
Mr. Garrett. I thank the Chair. And so, when you think of |
|
all the rules that have already come out and all the |
|
regulations, the proposed and the mounds of paperwork that have |
|
come out in just a short period of time, with these agencies |
|
not specifically funded to the level that they want to be |
|
funded at, I can only hazard a guess what we would be looking |
|
at right now if they had all the money that they really asked |
|
for. |
|
I guess the takeaway from this hearing so far is, from the |
|
other side of the aisle, the solution to all the problems that |
|
we have is to simply spend more money on it. And I guess the |
|
takeaway from this side of the aisle so far is the solution to |
|
the problems is we want to get it right as far as the rules or |
|
regulations that these agencies are promulgating. |
|
If you look at past history. If you look at reg--NMS and |
|
you look at--compare that to what we are doing today. Now that |
|
was regs--and rules coming out of the law of around 80-some-odd |
|
pages. We are looking at 1,000-some-odd pages. |
|
That took, I am told, from 4 to 6 months from rulemaking-- |
|
period of time, here. There they did it for approximately 15 |
|
months, and there they took over, I guess, oh, about a 3-year |
|
period of time to roll them all out and actually get into |
|
implementation. |
|
Here, we are compressing this into a much, much shorter |
|
period of time and a much larger area of the environment where |
|
we are going to ask the industry to come up with an entirely |
|
new architecture, structure, build new complex--new technology |
|
systems that they don't have yet, create a whole new |
|
operational process they don't have yet, a whole new legal |
|
documentation process that they don't have yet, creation of new |
|
clearinghouses, SEFs, connectivity between all these entities. |
|
All of that wasn't there in the past. You are trying to do |
|
it now in an extremely expedited manner. So it goes to the |
|
point I raised before. If we do it in the way--in the timeframe |
|
that you are talking about now, won't this lead to a seizing up |
|
of the derivatives market? |
|
Won't it lead to a sending of the derivatives market |
|
overseas, or at the very least won't it create unfair |
|
advantages between the big players in the marketplace and the |
|
very small players who cannot simply keep up with what you are |
|
trying to do? I will leave that to Mr. Gensler right now. |
|
Mr. Gensler. We have asked, in the midst of each of these |
|
rulemakings, and we have asked more generally, to hear from the |
|
public on the phasing of the implementation. Congress allowed |
|
us some discretion, both agencies, that no rules should become |
|
effective sooner than 2 months after the July date, the |
|
implementation date. But it could be later. |
|
So for the same reason that you just raised, Congressman, |
|
we want to hear from the public as to what rules can be done a |
|
bit sooner which rules need more time. Because there is a |
|
cumulative cost of this. It is a paradigm shift, as you are |
|
referring to, and I think we want to, as you say, get it right. |
|
Mr. Garrett. Ms. Schapiro? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I would agree with that. I think, unlike the |
|
statutory deadlines that we have been working through, we have |
|
much more discretion with respect to the implementation timing |
|
and sequencing. So that we can put the rules out and make them |
|
effective in an order that actually makes sense for the |
|
industry in order to build systems, develop compliance-- |
|
Mr. Garrett. Right, so can both of you, realizing that the |
|
feedback that you are already getting on all those points, can |
|
both of you sit here today and tell us that you would like |
|
Congress to give you more time? Because we know we have a |
|
deadline of July. |
|
Do either one of you think that you can do this |
|
appropriately and meet the deadline of July and still have |
|
fairness to the marketplace that we are talking about? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think we actually already have the |
|
discretion on the implementation. |
|
Mr. Garrett. On implementation, but how about the rule |
|
promulgation? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I feel that with the significant crisis of |
|
2008, which was a very real crisis, and the excellent staff at |
|
the CFTC and Commissioners, what timing has been put out there |
|
is doable. We are human. Some of these will happen after July, |
|
no doubt. |
|
Mr. Garrett. That is not in the statute. It is-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. It is not like a firm deadline that I |
|
understand. We are going to get this right and some of these |
|
will be after July. But we are also going to take up final rule |
|
writing in the spring and summer. |
|
Mr. Garrett. One aspect of it, and I will ask both of you |
|
this, is under the--President Obama's Executive Order |
|
instructing certain Federal agents to review regulations to |
|
ensure they do not stifle job creation and make the economy |
|
less competitive, this doesn't apply to either one of you, I |
|
don't believe, by the Executive Order. |
|
But is it part of your process that you are going through, |
|
that you wish to comply with that Executive Order so you make |
|
sure we don't stifle jobs and we don't hurt the economy? |
|
I will start with Ms. Schapiro. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Sure. Congressman, as you and I have |
|
discussed, the terms of the Executive Order don't apply to the |
|
Securities and Exchange Commission. But we have determined that |
|
it makes sense for us to try to act as though they do. I should |
|
say right off the top that much of what is in there, we already |
|
do. We already comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the |
|
Regulatory Flexibility Act-- |
|
Mr. Garrett. So you are going to try to comply with it? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --cost-benefit analysis. But in terms of |
|
being able to go back and look at some of the rules that have |
|
been around for many, many years, and see if they are having an |
|
unintended consequence given all the changes in our economy and |
|
in technology, in particular, we want to do that. We want to |
|
look at the impacts on small businesses. |
|
And we have been very focused in our rulemaking over the |
|
last year, in particular, to make sure that where we can give |
|
delayed compliance dates for small business, we are trying to |
|
do that and be as accommodating as we possibly can. |
|
Mr. Garrett. Mr. Gensler? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We took a very close look at the Executive |
|
Order. Our practices are consistent, though Congress has given |
|
us directions on how to do cost-benefit analysis. It is called |
|
15A of our act. So we have to follow congressional mandate |
|
rather than an Executive Order. |
|
In terms of looking at our entire rulebook, we do plan to |
|
do the 120-day plan where we would tell the public how we are |
|
going to look at our entire rulebook, even if it is not related |
|
to Dodd-Frank. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you, Mr. Garrett. |
|
Mr. Sherman, before I go to you, Mr. Hinojosa has a brief |
|
unanimous consent request. |
|
Mr. Hinojosa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am asking |
|
unanimous consent that my statement be made a part of the |
|
record. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Yes, and all statements will be. |
|
Mr. Hinojosa. Together with two letters, one by Richard |
|
Whiting of the Financial Services Roundtable dated February the |
|
7th, and the other is a statement by Craig Reiners of |
|
MillerCoors Corporation. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you, and let me say this to all |
|
members, at the end of this hearing, you can submit any letters |
|
for the record, if you would like. Thank you. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Hinojosa. |
|
Mr. Sherman? |
|
Mr. Sherman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dodd-Frank redirects |
|
the CFTC to adopt commodity position limits in order to prevent |
|
excessive price fluctuation and, of course, deliberate market |
|
manipulation. I know some of my colleagues have asked about |
|
this or other aspects of this particular provision. |
|
As part of this authority, the CFTC is entitled to consider |
|
exemptions for different classes of investors to allow for |
|
enhanced protections without unduly restricting investors' |
|
options. I am concerned that the Commission's proposed |
|
regulations make no distinction between investor classes, |
|
treating market speculators the same as ordinary commodity |
|
index fund investors. |
|
Is that the way these regulations should work? Or should |
|
there be a distinction between commodity index funds that buy |
|
and hold, versus those that are in and out of the market in |
|
days, hours or minutes? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We put out proposed rules that, as Congressman |
|
Sherman has said, did not make a distinction because the |
|
statute doesn't make a distinction in that way. The statute |
|
does make a distinction between bona fide hedgers, which in the |
|
statute, and this has been true in our statutes since the 1930s |
|
in some regard, relates to having some physical commodity in a |
|
merchandising channel. |
|
Congress, in Dodd-Frank, tightened that definition. So we |
|
have to comply with the intent of Congress. And it tightened it |
|
with regard to swap dealers. Swap dealers were, under various |
|
No-Action letters from the CFTC, able to be bona fide hedgers. |
|
And Congress tightened that to say, only to the extent that |
|
you actually are helping somebody on the other side hedge |
|
something who has the physical commodity in a merchandising |
|
channel, and so forth. So we are trying to take this up as |
|
Congress decided. But we look forward to the public comments on |
|
it. It is going to be a very thick comment file. |
|
Mr. Sherman. Every time I ask a regulator about something, |
|
they always say it is Congress' fault. Has your Commission |
|
recommended a technical fix? Or do you think that it is |
|
appropriate as a matter of policy not to distinguish between |
|
the in-and-out investor on the one hand and the commodity index |
|
fund on the other? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We have not recommended a technical fix. This |
|
was something that was debated in many committee hearings, |
|
maybe not in this committee, but in other committees, about the |
|
role of index investors and so forth. |
|
But we do look forward to the public comment and your |
|
comments and, as to getting this-- |
|
Mr. Sherman. Yes, I may disagree with you on whether the |
|
existing statute gives you the flexibility here. The statute |
|
does say you are supposed to adopt limitations as appropriate. |
|
And I look forward to working with your attorneys to convince |
|
them that we don't need the technical fix. |
|
Assuming your attorneys do come to you and say, ``Yes, you |
|
can distinguish between classes of investors in these |
|
regulations,'' as a matter of policy, should there be a |
|
difference between the index fund on the one hand and the day |
|
trader on the other? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think I am just going to say I am going to |
|
keep an open mind. With 8,200 comments on the last position |
|
limit rule, I think this one is going to be such a thick |
|
comment file and I am going to keep an open mind as a |
|
Commissioner, to these views. |
|
Some have recommended there be class limits on all |
|
indexers. Some have recommended that there should be no limit. |
|
So there is a wide set of comments that we are already |
|
receiving on index investing. |
|
Mr. Sherman. I hope you are able to give a clear and more |
|
definite response to some of my other colleagues' questions. |
|
But on this one, I just gather that you are keeping an open |
|
mind as to both the law and the policy. And I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Let me say this: This first panel will be excused at 12:15. |
|
And we will seat the second panel. And I know Mr. Reiners from |
|
MillerCoors is sitting there on the first row, ready to |
|
testify. So we will find out what your announcement this |
|
morning does to the price of beer, whether--if it helps it or |
|
hurts-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. Hopefully, the transparency will keep beer for |
|
all Americans well-priced. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I think the margins requirements may help. |
|
Mr. Gensler. I hope so. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Neugebauer? Thank you, sir |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gensler, I |
|
have some serious concerns about the high cost and the severe |
|
consequences and burdens that Dodd-Frank is going to be putting |
|
on a number of different agencies. |
|
And I have asked all of the entities that are affected by |
|
Dodd-Frank to furnish us information of what is the startup |
|
cost and what is the continuation cost of just implementing |
|
Dodd-Frank. |
|
I have heard from your counterparts on either side. I got a |
|
nice thank-you letter for me sending you a letter. But I am |
|
looking for a little bit more robust and detailed response to |
|
that letter from your agency, as well. |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think that you received it this morning. And |
|
I apologize if maybe it is just in transit. But I would be glad |
|
to take any questions about the letter. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. Thank you. I think one of the things we saw |
|
in the President's budget that he laid out is that he is |
|
estimating that it is a $6.5 billion number to implement Dodd- |
|
Frank, maybe going to hire over 5,000 new people. I believe |
|
that number, when we do the calculations and I think when we |
|
get some history on that, I think it is going to be a much |
|
bigger number than that. |
|
But one of the things I am concerned about is, for example, |
|
the CFTC's chief compliance officer rule requires firms to |
|
designate a chief compliance officer; establish and |
|
administrate a complete new set of compliance policies, |
|
including implementation and compliance with hundreds of pages |
|
of business conduct rules; prepare an annual report to |
|
regulators; perform a review of every requirement under the |
|
Commodity Exchange Act, and your agency's estimate of what this |
|
would cost the market participants is $13,600. |
|
Everybody else out there who is about to implement this |
|
said this is going to cost millions of dollars to comply with |
|
that. And so one of the things that I think is flawed about |
|
this and the fact that we are accelerating this process and |
|
putting these rules out at record levels is we are not doing |
|
any cost-benefit analysis of these rules. |
|
And we have underestimated, in many cases, the cost of |
|
complying with these. So as we talk about Dodd-Frank, in the |
|
sense that we think this is going to be a wonderful thing for |
|
transparency and integrity in the markets, the question is, |
|
what are the markets going to look like when we get through |
|
making them more transparent and operating with integrity? Are |
|
they actually going to be incrementally more transparent and is |
|
there going to be incremental integrity in the markets? |
|
But also, the cost of achieving that? And what I am very |
|
concerned about is, long term we are going to be pushing those |
|
markets to other places. In fact, in the past few weeks, I have |
|
sat down with some of the people who are participating in these |
|
markets. These markets are looking for a pressure relief valve |
|
because they are looking at these kinds of costs. And for our |
|
smaller participants, this is an extremely big problem. |
|
And so I guess the question I have to you is, what kind of |
|
cost-benefit analysis is going on as you are churning these |
|
regulations out to actually determine the cost of compliance |
|
and the impact of that cost of compliance to the markets? |
|
Mr. Gensler. And if I might also answer your earlier |
|
question, in the letter and in the budget, this agency has |
|
talked about $308 million, $77 million related directly to |
|
Dodd-Frank, and about 240 positions directly related to Dodd- |
|
Frank in the 2012 numbers. |
|
We as an agency are mandated by our statute, Section 15A, |
|
on how to do cost-benefit analysis, which was adopted many |
|
Congresses ago. That has directions, actually rather detailed, |
|
about taking into consideration the price discovery function, |
|
the lowering risk, about the integrity of markets to which you |
|
just referred. |
|
We also asked, in each of our rules, a question to please |
|
help us. As commenters come back with the cost, because those |
|
are important for our consideration before we move to final |
|
rules, to actually hear from the public. |
|
I think the figure you might have referred to--though I |
|
don't know every rule by heart, is within the Paperwork |
|
Reduction Act piece of it. We asked for comments on those costs |
|
as well as the cost-benefit analysis costs so that as we go |
|
forward to consider final rules, we get the public's thoughts |
|
on that, as well. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. So are you doing cost-benefit analysis? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Oh, absolutely, in compliance with our |
|
statute. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. When in the process are you doing that, |
|
before you send out the rule or after you get comments from the |
|
rule? |
|
Mr. Gensler. It is an ongoing process, but it is pre- |
|
proposal, it is part of the proposal phase, and then it is |
|
informed further by commenters as we move to the final rule, as |
|
well. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. Is that cost-benefit analysis made |
|
available to the people that you are requesting comments for so |
|
they can record-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. --kind of respond to your analysis and-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes. And I don't know if Chairman Schapiro--we |
|
are under different guidelines, but yes. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. We publish our cost-benefit analysis. Our |
|
economists develop data the best they can. They might use |
|
survey information. They might look to analogous rulemakings to |
|
see what costs were associated there. We see comments on the |
|
cost-benefit analysis. And it is, as Chairman Gensler said, |
|
further informed by the comment process. |
|
Oftentimes the people who have the best handle on costs are |
|
going to be the industry charged with complying with the rules |
|
or implementing the rules. And so we are highly reliant on |
|
their information. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. So is this-- |
|
Chairman Bachus. I thank the chairman. And I will thank the |
|
gentleman from Texas. |
|
Mr. Neugebauer. Thank you. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Meeks? |
|
Mr. Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Gensler, I just have a couple of quick questions that I |
|
wanted to ask. I was pleased to see you refer to the |
|
cooperation with foreign counterparts in your prepared |
|
testimony. The Dodd-Frank Act, of course, recognizes the limits |
|
of the U.S. jurisdictional authority by clarifying that |
|
provisions of Title VII do not apply to activities outside of |
|
the United States unless they have a direct and significant |
|
connection with activities in, or effect on commerce of, the |
|
United States. |
|
My first question is, what steps have you taken or do you |
|
propose to take or intend to take to ensure that United States |
|
firms can compete internationally on a level playing field with |
|
their foreign competitors and foreign jurisdictions? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We have had extensive dialogue and discussion |
|
with regulators around the globe and with the very industry |
|
that you are referring to, the large international banks. The |
|
international banks that are not headquartered here, that are |
|
in Europe and in Asia, have largely come in and say they |
|
anticipate registering as swap dealers to offer swaps to U.S. |
|
counterparties. |
|
So whether you are a European bank or Asian, you want to |
|
offer swaps to U.S. counterparties. The U.S. banks, of course, |
|
have considered that they would be registering, sometimes not |
|
once, but maybe two or three different legal entities would |
|
register. |
|
But at the core, we are working with the other regulators |
|
sharing our drafts with them. Of course, we have a statute that |
|
has been passed. And the only other country that has one so far |
|
is Japan. The European Parliament is taking their proposal up |
|
this spring. |
|
Mr. Meeks. So there is continuing dialogue, do you think, |
|
because I am interested especially with the-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. There is continuing dialogue, but there is |
|
also, through international forums, something that Chairman |
|
Schapiro I think co-chairs, IOSCO, which is an international |
|
forum. There are panels that the Federal Reserve sits on. We |
|
are just a small agency. We are usually the junior member. |
|
But these international forums have actually pretty aligned |
|
and consistent rules on clearing, for instance, data |
|
repositories. And we are also going to be entering in to |
|
Memorandums of Understanding with at least a half a dozen other |
|
foreign regulators. |
|
Mr. Meeks. Let me also--because you also noted in your |
|
testimony that the CFTC recently proposed position limits on |
|
several commodities. And I have been told that the experience |
|
in London shows that it could be difficult to ascertain the |
|
true position in aggregate of traders. |
|
Do you believe that sufficient transparency exists for the |
|
CFTC to effectively enforce such limits? And can you speak on |
|
the impact of position limits in curbing speculation in |
|
commodities such as oil? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I believe with the passage of time, there will |
|
be such transparency because the statute allows that all the |
|
information for swaps will come into data repositories. We will |
|
benefit from that information. And that is why the rule has a |
|
bit of delayed implementation until some of that information is |
|
in. |
|
The CFTC is not a regulator that regulates prices. We are a |
|
regulator that ensures transparent, open, competitive markets |
|
that have integrity. And so it is in that context that position |
|
limits have been used to just ensure, in essence, that there |
|
are not concentrated positions, particularly in the spot month |
|
where corners and squeezes in physical commodities can happen. |
|
Mr. Meeks. I will tell you one concern that I have, how do |
|
we protect the United States from speculation, especially on |
|
things like oil occurring outside of the United States, which |
|
then has a direct impact on us? Could you tell us what we could |
|
do to try to curb and monitor the risk of speculation occurring |
|
outside of the United States? |
|
Mr. Gensler. If I might, speculators have a role in the |
|
markets. Hedgers and speculators need each other and meet in a |
|
marketplace. This has been true in our markets even when the |
|
corn producer or wheat producer wanted to know, how do I hedge |
|
my crop, come the harvest? There was a speculator on the other |
|
side. So speculators are part of the commodities markets. They |
|
are part of the swaps marketplace. |
|
Position limits authority, which was put in place in the |
|
1930s, was to guard against burdens that might come from |
|
excessive speculation. One of those burdens that we know about |
|
like corners and squeezes, or that the size of the crowd is so |
|
small that there are only a handful of speculators that might |
|
have concentrated positions in a marketplace. |
|
I don't know if that answers your question. The oil market, |
|
the energy markets are global. The financial markets are |
|
global. Risk does not know any geographic boundary in today's |
|
modern, technological, and communications world. |
|
Mr. Meeks. I am out of time. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I thank the gentleman. |
|
Mr. McHenry? |
|
Mr. McHenry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And to follow up on |
|
my colleague from New York's questions, we have missed having a |
|
Federal Reserve comment on this question about international |
|
competition. |
|
And to that, Mr. Tarullo, looking at the derivatives |
|
marketplace, do you foresee a major shift in markets other than |
|
the United States as a possibility? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Congressman, I suppose anything is possible. |
|
But I think--what I think you are hearing today is that there |
|
are two kinds of processes under way, which actually intersect |
|
to a considerable degree. The first is a domestic regulatory |
|
reform exercise driven by statute and implemented by the |
|
agencies you see in front of you and some others as well. And |
|
the second is an international process, which pre-existed the |
|
crisis, but which has been energized and extended because of |
|
the crisis. |
|
As I noted in my response to an earlier question, on the |
|
capital regulatory side we have been able to achieve a |
|
considerable harmonization of the kinds of requirements that |
|
would be applied to derivatives as well as to other credit and |
|
market risk exposures. |
|
In the payment systems arena, I think there is an awful lot |
|
of interest among other countries because, frankly, they have |
|
seen what can happen when you don't have a transparent, well- |
|
collateralized market functioning in derivatives, or indeed, |
|
any other set of areas. |
|
So while I can't sit here today and tell you that I think |
|
the agencies have collectively gotten the level of agreement, |
|
much less implementation, they would like to see, my impression |
|
in this area--and it is only an impression--is that things are |
|
moving in the right direction. |
|
I think it is important to note that each of the other |
|
financial centers that people talk about as growing as the |
|
emerging market world grows is in a jurisdiction which is a |
|
member of the Financial Stability Board and the Basel |
|
Committee. So these people are at the table. |
|
Mr. McHenry. Thank you. |
|
Ms. Schapiro, in a Financial Times article today, the Muni |
|
Enforcement Division Chief is quoted within--from one of your |
|
SEC employers--employees--is quoted as saying that muni |
|
disclosures--or the municipal bond market has become, ``a top |
|
priority of the SEC.'' Can you comment on that? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Sure. When we set out to reform how our |
|
enforcement program worked 2 years ago, one of the goals we |
|
said was to create specialized units where we could have staff |
|
focus on particular types of cases become very deep, very |
|
expert, more efficient in bringing just those kinds of cases. |
|
And municipal securities was an area we thought was |
|
particularly important for us to focus upon. |
|
We have seen, as you have read in the paper and seen in |
|
some of the cases we have brought, real concern about the |
|
quality of disclosure on municipal issuers to investors. And we |
|
don't have the authority at the SEC to dictate or to tell |
|
municipal issuers the way we can corporate issuers what they |
|
must disclose. |
|
We tried to get at that through the intermediaries that buy |
|
and sell municipal securities. So we will tell broker-dealers, |
|
you can't buy and sell these securities unless you ensure that |
|
the municipal issuer is making the following kinds of |
|
disclosures. |
|
So that is an indirect tool. It is all we have really with |
|
respect to the disclosure except for our anti-fraud authority. |
|
So to the extent that a municipal issuer is misleading in its |
|
disclosure documents about the state of its pension liabilities |
|
or something else that is material, we are able to pursue that |
|
as a matter of anti-fraud. |
|
Mr. McHenry. Is there a challenge between the government |
|
accounting standards and the financial accounting standards-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. There is-- |
|
Mr. McHenry. --a real challenge? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --a challenge. We can't dictate what |
|
accounting standards they use-- |
|
Mr. McHenry. GASB. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --either. Many municipalities use GASB. Some |
|
use FASB and I--there are other alternatives out there. But |
|
we--so we have a--sometimes have a lack of comparability as a |
|
result of not having required accounting standards. |
|
Mr. McHenry. And that lack of comparability it--does that |
|
pose a challenge in understanding disclosures-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. It-- |
|
Mr. McHenry. --and enforcement? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --it is a challenge for investors, we |
|
understand. The other problem is the timing of disclosure. We |
|
can't say that you must report year-end results within 90 days |
|
or a set period of time. And so some municipalities disclose |
|
their financial results a year or even more, in some few |
|
instances, later. |
|
I will say one of the big improvements in this area has |
|
been the creation by the MSRB of the EMMA System, which allows |
|
for a great deal of electronic disclosure. And I think that has |
|
made life a bit easier for investors. |
|
Mr. McHenry. Is there more authority that the SEC would |
|
need to have accurate disclosures? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. There is authority we would need. We have |
|
been in the process--although for resource reasons we have had |
|
to shut it down or pulled in field hearings around the country. |
|
We did one in San Francisco and one in Washington to collect |
|
the information about the state of the municipal markets, |
|
particularly, with respect to disclosure and sales practices, |
|
accounting, and other issues, so that we could build a really |
|
strong record for what we think the real issues are, and how we |
|
might come to Congress and ask for you to help us in solving |
|
those. |
|
While we haven't continued the field hearings at this |
|
point, we are still collecting lots of comments and meeting |
|
with lots of people who have an interest in this market. And I |
|
suspect we will come to Congress at some point with some |
|
proposals. |
|
Mr. McHenry. Thank you. |
|
Chairman Bachus. At this time, I will recognize Mr. Lynch. |
|
But before I do, the witnesses who are on the second panel, if |
|
you want to be excused for 10 or 15 minutes and just be back at |
|
12:15, you may want to take a break now. |
|
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And again, I thank the |
|
witnesses. I was reading this morning in one of the reports |
|
that the notional value of the derivatives market is about $600 |
|
trillion. |
|
I am also concerned that 97 percent of the U.S. market in |
|
derivatives outstanding is actually represented by just 5 |
|
commercial banks. They have a very concentrated market here. |
|
They also have, not surprisingly, 97 percent of the |
|
clearinghouses owned by just 5 banks. |
|
I had an amendment in the Dodd-Frank Bill that was sort of |
|
watered down in the Senate regarding the governance of these |
|
clearinghouses, and the ownership of these clearinghouses. And |
|
I know that we have a proposed rule that is out there. |
|
But there are some real conflict-of-interest risks out |
|
there, concerns. One is that these clearinghouses could |
|
operate--being operated by these five banks, basically, could |
|
operate for their own benefit. |
|
They could operate as cartels. They could restrict the |
|
products that are cleared, who gets to play. And probably the |
|
most dangerous risk is that we are going to allow these |
|
clearinghouses to set their own risk management standards. We |
|
are going to allow them to establish their own collateral |
|
requirements. |
|
And while we have taken that risk and dealt with it on the |
|
bank's side, we are going to allow in these clearinghouses this |
|
small group of individuals to establish how much collateral |
|
they are going to be required to put up. |
|
And, it is just ironic that we are seeing a huge shift in |
|
risk from the banks that are now being dealt with. But we have |
|
a gap here, in my opinion, on the clearinghouse side. |
|
Chairman Schapiro, I know you have been doing great work on |
|
this, as all of you have. But where are we on this proposed |
|
rule? And do you believe that we are heading in the right |
|
direction on this? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Thank you, Congressman. I think we obviously |
|
have taken very seriously the requirement that we seek to |
|
mitigate conflicts of interest in both the clearing agencies |
|
and the swap execution facilities. And we have identified the |
|
same risks you have. |
|
The risks that too few products will actually clear, the |
|
risk that a small group of dealers if they are in control might |
|
limit access by other participants to the marketplace. And the |
|
concern that they could lower risk management controls to |
|
reduce their collateral requirements. |
|
So what the SEC did was to propose two alternatives for how |
|
to deal with ownership in voting within clearing agencies. And |
|
we have set some numerical thresholds. One alternative would |
|
say that no single participant can vote more than 20 percent of |
|
the voting interest. |
|
And all the clearing agency participants collectively would |
|
have an aggregate cap of 40 percent. And then, we would have |
|
some requirements on the board of directors and on the |
|
nominating committee to have independent directors on those. |
|
And the other alternative was to say no individual |
|
participant could have more than 5 percent of the voting |
|
interest. There would be no aggregate cap. But the board would |
|
have to be majority independent and the nominating committee |
|
solely independent. |
|
What you can see by that is we are trying a couple of |
|
different triggers and combinations to see if we can try to |
|
mitigate the conflicts of interest that exist. And at the same |
|
time, the access rules that we will ultimately propose that |
|
will provide for as maximum access to clearing agencies as |
|
possible is yet a third way to help mitigate the conflicts. |
|
I can tell you that almost nobody liked our proposals. We |
|
got lots and lots of-- |
|
Mr. Lynch. That is a good sign. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I am not sure. Some people thought that they |
|
weren't tough enough and some people thought they-- |
|
Mr. Lynch. Oh, okay. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --were way too tough. And we have to balance |
|
this with the need to have entities willing to invest in these |
|
entities so that we can have robust and strong clearing |
|
agencies. So where we are in short is that we are working |
|
through many, many comment letters and continuing to refine our |
|
approach and continuing to talk and meet with people. And I |
|
couldn't honestly tell you right now where we will land |
|
Mr. Lynch. Okay. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Gensler? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I would associate my remarks with Chairman |
|
Schapiro. But I think on the point of access, Congress said |
|
that clearinghouses have to have that open access, meaning |
|
membership has to be broadened out. |
|
The futures marketplace and the securities marketplace have |
|
pretty open access to clearinghouses in each of the spaces. The |
|
swaps marketplace has been more concentrated. The Congressman |
|
is absolutely correct on that. |
|
And so we proposed some rules in December to try to open up |
|
that membership consistent with what Congress said-- |
|
nondiscriminatory access. These access provisions are critical. |
|
We want the public comment, but I suspect there will be some |
|
commenters opposed and some for. |
|
Mr. Lynch. If I could suggest, rather than just having |
|
independent directors who might be agnostic, I think what might |
|
work in that context is actually having competing commercial |
|
interests on those boards, not necessarily adversarial but |
|
having competing interests. That will work as a regulatory |
|
force in sort of balancing out the operation of these |
|
clearinghouses. I think that is what we have to get at. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I think that is an excellent point and we |
|
actually have fair representation requirements in other |
|
contexts that would, for example, have institutional investors |
|
be represented on the Board. And so that is something we are |
|
very interested in. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. And I think we have-- |
|
Mr. Lynch. Thank you. |
|
Chairman Bachus. --gone over a quite a bit, so thank you. |
|
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. What we will do is we will take two more |
|
on each side, in fact it, would it be okay if we took three |
|
more on each side? Would that be okay with the panelists? And |
|
so, we will take three more on each side. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer? |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Tarullo, in your testimony you say that a much |
|
discussed part of the Act is the requirement that banks push |
|
portions of their swap activity into affiliates or face |
|
restrictions to their access at the discount window of deposit |
|
insurance. |
|
I guess my question is, what percentage of--I think the |
|
gentleman, Mr. Lynch, a minute ago made a comment that 97 |
|
percent of the trades are done by 5 percent or 5 banks. Is that |
|
basically correct? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. I think that may be a little bit high. I would |
|
say it depends on the market. In the commodity swaps market, it |
|
is far more diverse, with many more participants. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. In the interest rate market, it is a pretty |
|
common rate. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay, the point I want to get out though |
|
is the risk that the banks have with these entities that are |
|
under their corporate umbrella that would be exposed to FDIC |
|
insurance. |
|
I think it is imperative that we get those out so we |
|
minimize exposure not only to the banks but to the taxpayers, |
|
and I am wondering where you are at with that and how your |
|
rulemaking is going on there. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. The rulemaking is a joint rulemaking, of |
|
course, by all the regulatory agencies. And we don't have a |
|
proposed rule on that out yet. I would be happy to get back to |
|
you with the status of where we will be. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. I think that is very important |
|
because I think otherwise we are getting the taxpayer on the |
|
hook again for some risky behavior that was the cause of the |
|
problem. And we still have them there rather than getting it |
|
out of the depositor's pocket. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. And Congressman, sorry, but as one of your |
|
colleagues was asking earlier about the coordination of the |
|
rulemaking, of course this is somewhat related to the Volcker |
|
Rule rulemaking as well because you have the same set of issues |
|
of activities being moved out of organizations. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay, along that same line though with |
|
other Federal entities that have branches here in the United |
|
States and then have access to the Fed window, how do you |
|
minimize our exposure to them through this rulemaking |
|
authority? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Actually, Congressman, as the statute is |
|
drafted, it appears as though the exemption that is provided |
|
for insured depository institutions for some kinds of |
|
derivatives activities--government securities and agencies and |
|
high quality bonds--would not be applicable to domestic |
|
branches of foreign banking institutions. So actually, there is |
|
an asymmetry there, which has been brought to our attention by |
|
foreign governments. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. In your own testimony, you say that |
|
they may require foreign firms to recognize their existing U.S. |
|
derivatives activity to a greater extent than U.S. firms. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Right, that it might require them to |
|
restructure in order-- |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Right. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. --to have it outside of any-- |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. --insured depository institution. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. I guess the question is, how concerned are |
|
you with the ability of foreign entities to be able to access |
|
our Fed window and have our taxpayer dollars involved? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Congressman, all borrowing at the discount |
|
window is fully collateralized with haircuts. And that applies |
|
regardless of who is accessing the discount window. Also, of |
|
course, discount window access is contingent upon supervision, |
|
which ensures that we or our colleagues in the other banking |
|
agencies have adequate knowledge of the liquidity and capital |
|
position of the institution accessing the discount window. |
|
So it is only when there is supervision here and when we |
|
have full collateralization with appropriate haircuts that |
|
discount window lending is possible. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Are you looking to revise those rules and |
|
the circumstances around them right now with what is going on |
|
in Europe? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Not provoked by anything going on in Europe, |
|
pardon me. We are of course always looking at the appropriate |
|
haircut levels and whether there is a need to refine our |
|
discount window access features. But as I say, any |
|
accessibility is going to be based upon an entity present here |
|
in the United States which is supervised here in the United |
|
States. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay, thank you. My time is about up here. |
|
I just have a really quick question for basically all of you. |
|
One of the things that is of concern to everybody here today is |
|
end users. You all recognize that they were not a part of |
|
systemic risk of the problems that were in 2008? Do you--is |
|
that an agreed-to statement or is that not? |
|
Mr. Gensler. They didn't cause the problems. They |
|
ultimately were-- |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Were caught up in the problem? |
|
Mr. Gensler. They got caught up into it. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. |
|
Mr. Gensler. --and part of that is to make sure they are |
|
not-- |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay, I am running of time. I understand |
|
that, but by the same token, if they are not part of the |
|
problem, you raked them into the problem. And yes, they are--by |
|
doing this you now--if we don't go with the letters of intent |
|
from Senator Dodd and Senator Lincoln about what was going on |
|
here with regards to not imposing some sort of other barriers |
|
to end users, we may get there. |
|
And I think this should be a very narrowly focused ruling |
|
and regulatory mandate from you and not impose other additional |
|
risks or concerns onto the end user. |
|
Mr. Gensler. I am agreeing with you that the CFTC does not |
|
intend to have a requirement of margin with these non-financial |
|
end users. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay. |
|
Mr. Gensler. But they did get caught up in the problem. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Chairman Schapiro, I assume you agree with |
|
that? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. We haven't formulated any proposals in this |
|
area yet at the SEC, but I think it is safe to say we are |
|
extremely focused on this concern that has been raised multiple |
|
times this morning. The end users likely to be using the very |
|
narrow category of swaps that we regulate are going to be |
|
financial institutions-- |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. Okay, my comment is they are not the |
|
problem, so don't make them the problem-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. We are not going to make them the problem. |
|
Mr. Luetkemeyer. --by imposing rules and regulations that |
|
they don't need, okay? Thank you. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Miller. |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
I have a question or two about the ``take my ball and go |
|
home'' argument that if the regulations here are unpalatable |
|
here in the United States or for that matter even if we |
|
coordinate with European systems and have similar regulations |
|
that some other countries might become host to derivatives |
|
trading, which reminded me of how reinsurance is regulated. |
|
Reinsurance companies that are in actual markets are beyond |
|
the reach of State regulators, but State regulators get at |
|
those markets by their requirements on their insured, the |
|
company's insurance companies domesticated in their State. |
|
If they want to get credit for solvency regulation purposes |
|
for reinsurance contracts, the reinsurance companies have to |
|
meet certain requirements, basically that they be able to pay |
|
on the reinsurance contracts. |
|
Governor Tarullo, how are derivatives, credit default swaps |
|
in particular but derivatives generally, treated for purposes |
|
of safety and soundness regulation now? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Right now, Congressman, they are subject to |
|
two kinds of capital requirements. First, a trading or market |
|
risk that is the value of the derivatives goes up and down |
|
regardless of who the counterparties are. |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Right. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. And second, with respect to counterparty or |
|
credit risk, that is if I have a derivatives transaction with |
|
you, I rely on your creditworthiness to be able to perform. But |
|
we have both kinds of capital regulation in place. |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Okay. So if American |
|
financial institutions purchased derivatives, credit default |
|
swaps or other derivatives from a market that was neither |
|
transparent nor had collateral requirements, you would be in a |
|
position to deny those contracts credit as an asset and perhaps |
|
still consider them as a liability? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Or certainly we are in a position to require |
|
appropriate capital set aside depending on the identity of the |
|
counterparty. That is absolutely true-- |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Okay. Well-- |
|
Mr. Tarullo. --so long as we regulate the U.S. |
|
institutions. |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. The reinsurance regulation |
|
through States, through the insurance companies proves to be |
|
fairly effective regulation. Do you have any doubt that you |
|
will be able to avoid circumventing all U.S. laws by your |
|
regulation of safety and soundness of financial institutions? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. I think two things. One, with respect to |
|
regulated U.S. financial institutions, we are in a position to |
|
understand what they are doing and to require them to have |
|
appropriate safeguards in place depending on their |
|
counterparties. That is not to say with respect to all |
|
derivatives activity that we would be in a position to ensure |
|
that it was being conducted in a safe and sound fashion. |
|
But the CFTC and the SEC have another regulatory scope and |
|
then, as we have all said, we are in discussions with other |
|
important financial centers to make sure that they, too, are |
|
putting some of these things in place. If I could add one |
|
thing, Congressman, there is a degree to which counterparties |
|
are attracted to markets that are well supervised-- |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Right. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. --precisely because they give assurance that |
|
these trades will be completed in a timely fashion. |
|
I think people have always understood that the success and |
|
liquidity of our securities markets in the United States was in |
|
no small part due to the fact that the New York Stock Exchange |
|
on its own imposed a lot of requirements on transparency. |
|
Mr. Miller of North Carolina. Derivatives are frequently |
|
justified as risk management, but according to witnesses who |
|
sat at that table in the past, only about 10 percent of |
|
derivatives contracts involve a party that actually has any |
|
interest in the underlying risk, has any risk to manage. |
|
And there have been stories, rumors at least that in many |
|
cases companies have bought large credit default swap positions |
|
for when they were in a position to cause default and have done |
|
that. |
|
An example, again, a rumor that is denied by Morgan Stanley |
|
was that they were bondholders for one of the largest banks in |
|
Kazakhstan, which was taken over by the government of |
|
Kazakhstan. And the bond agreements provided that the |
|
bondholders could require that the bonds be paid immediately. |
|
All the bondholders initially said, ``Don't worry about |
|
that. If you are making the payments, that is fine.'' And then |
|
Morgan Stanley changed their mind and demanded immediate |
|
payment, which the bank could not do, causing a default. |
|
The rumors were that Morgan Stanley had bought large credit |
|
default swap positions and benefited greatly from the seeming-- |
|
what appeared to be the illogical conduct of precipitating |
|
default of a performing debt. |
|
There are other examples of--where at least arguments that |
|
Goldman Sachs was in a position to know things about AIG's |
|
solvency that their counterparties did not know. Should there |
|
be--what protections are there now for that kind of insider-- |
|
what might be considered insider trading in the securities |
|
arena with respect to credit default swaps? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. The credit default--we have actually |
|
prosecuted one case with respect to credit default swaps being |
|
invoked in insider trading. I will say the problem that you are |
|
talking about is really what we call the anti-creditor problem |
|
where you have more of an incentive to see the institution |
|
against whom you are holding insurance fail than you do as a |
|
bondholder even to work out their problems in an orderly way. |
|
And it is a distortion certainly in the marketplace and it |
|
is an area that we have been quite focused on as we look at |
|
issues around things like empty voting in the proxy context and |
|
more broadly at the reporting and other requirements. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Thank you, Mr. Miller. |
|
Mr. Posey? |
|
Mr. Posey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
I can't help but think the best fix for future crises is to |
|
have some accountability for the first crisis, for the cause of |
|
the first crisis. And I believe you know this is coming, |
|
Chairman Schapiro, what kind of accountability have we had at |
|
the SEC with the people who helped cause the last crisis to |
|
date? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Congressman, I think you know that we have |
|
worked tirelessly over the last 2 years to try to reform the |
|
Securities and Exchange Commission and to make it an agency |
|
that is worthy of the public's-- |
|
Mr. Posey. I have a limited amount of time. Has anybody had |
|
their wrist slapped yet? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I understand. As you also know, most of the |
|
employees were-- |
|
Mr. Posey. Wait, please, just--has anyone had their wrist |
|
slapped yet? Has anyone been reprimanded? I know nobody has |
|
been fired or put in jail but have we blamed anybody? Have we |
|
actually told anybody they are responsible for doing wrong and |
|
slapped their wrists yet? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Most of the employees involved are gone. For |
|
the remaining employees involved with Madoff against-- |
|
Mr. Posey. That--listen-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. --whom discipline was recommended, we are-- |
|
Mr. Posey. --that is like saying-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Completing-- |
|
Mr. Posey. --a burglar left the neighborhood to burgle |
|
another neighborhood. |
|
Chairman Bachus. All right. Mr. Posey. Mr. Posey, if you |
|
could let the chairman answer the question and then-- |
|
Mr. Posey. She is not answering it, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I am. We are concluding the appeals process |
|
for the final stages of those employees against whom discipline |
|
was recommended. That should be completed shortly. |
|
Mr. Posey. Thank you. So the answer is just no. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. The answer is the disciplinary process, which |
|
is laid out in Federal law and is one which I am beholden to |
|
follow is winding its way-- |
|
Mr. Posey. I know there is some kind of unwritten rule |
|
about giving a yes or no answer here but it would have saved a |
|
whole lot of time. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Gensler, how comparable do you think the community-- |
|
Chairman Bachus. Let me say this to all the members. I |
|
think that the witnesses are not on trial. And I think they are |
|
due a certain amount of decorum and respect. I know that these |
|
are intense questions or they are emotional questions, but I do |
|
believe the Chairman was trying to answer the question. |
|
And I am not talking to any one member. I am just saying I |
|
think it is important that this body treat the witnesses with |
|
the dignity and respect that they are due. So I appreciate it. |
|
Mr. Scott? |
|
Mr. Scott. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Gensler, at last week's agriculture-- |
|
Chairman Bachus. Was he through? Oh I am sorry. Mr. Posey, |
|
I apologize. You were not through. You have additional time. |
|
Mr. Posey. Mr. Gensler, do you think the Commodity Futures |
|
Trading Commission was culpable in any way in the cause of the |
|
last crisis? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think the entire regulatory system failed |
|
the American public, so I would have to include all of us |
|
regulators, in a sense and yes, in the broadest sense. I think |
|
the futures marketplace worked very well--so the futures |
|
marketplace did not fail. |
|
Mr. Posey. I appreciate the ``yes'' answer, thank you. Has |
|
there been any disciplinary action taken against any of the |
|
employees who were culpable in your agency? |
|
Mr. Gensler. No. |
|
Mr. Posey. Thank you for the direct answer. |
|
Governor? |
|
Mr. Tarullo. I agree with Chairman Gensler that there were |
|
widespread problems in the regulatory structure and then in the |
|
implementation of the regulatory structure by the regulatory |
|
institutions. |
|
What the Federal Reserve has tried to do is to determine |
|
how, with the changes in the law, and with what was learned |
|
from the last crisis, we can have more effective supervision |
|
going forward. So there have been lots of changes, both at the |
|
Board and at Reserve Banks in terms of reordering supervision, |
|
who is in charge, which people we have working on which |
|
matters. |
|
There haven't been any disciplinary proceedings. I wasn't |
|
at the Board at the run-up to the crisis, but Congressman, I am |
|
not aware of misconduct of any sort. What I am aware of is the |
|
collective failure of our regulatory agencies, including the |
|
Fed, to determine what was needed and to have the resolve to go |
|
and do it. |
|
Mr. Posey. Thank you. Does effective regulation involve |
|
government stopping businesses from making bad decisions? Just |
|
a quick yes or no from each of you if possible. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. ``No'', unless it is going to hurt investors. |
|
Mr. Posey. Okay. |
|
Mr. Gensler. ``No'', unless it is going to break the law. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. It is ``no'', unless it puts Federal taxpayer |
|
funds or the safety and soundness of the financial system at |
|
risk. |
|
Mr. Posey. Okay. And then thirdly, I think we all know, but |
|
I would just like to get your answer on this. Is it possible to |
|
stop somebody from failing and still allow them to succeed in |
|
the free enterprise system, to guarantee nobody fails? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. No. We should not guarantee that nobody |
|
fails. We should allow institutions to fail. |
|
Mr. Gensler. I think there has to be a freedom to fail. I |
|
think there will be banks that fail in the future as there have |
|
been for centuries in the past. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. I agree. |
|
Mr. Posey. Thank you very much. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. |
|
Chairman Bachus. I thank the gentleman. |
|
Governor Tarullo, I think, pointed out that he was not at |
|
the Board during the financial meltdown or the events leading |
|
up to it and that is also true of Chairman Gensler-- |
|
Mr. Posey. Me? |
|
Chairman Bachus. No, I am not talking about--Bill, there is |
|
nothing--I am not talking about you. I promise this has nothing |
|
to do with your remarks. I was just telling the new members |
|
that Chairman Schapiro was not there, and Chairman Gensler was |
|
not there, and they inherited quite a mess. So Mr.--who is |
|
that--Mr. Green? |
|
Mr. Scott. Scott. |
|
Chairman Bachus. Mr. Scott, I am sorry. |
|
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gensler, last week |
|
I asked you about this concept of margin separation, if you |
|
recall the Agriculture Committee meeting, and how it could |
|
potentially raise the cost of clearing with only a small amount |
|
of management risk management benefits. |
|
I still feel it could be very expensive for market |
|
participation if directed towards a problem that does not seem |
|
to exist since we are not requiring the same customer |
|
protection in future clearinghouses which have never failed. |
|
And I know you answered at that time that it was only |
|
preliminary, which led me to believe you are reviewing that and |
|
taking a look at it. |
|
So I want to explore it a little bit further with you with |
|
these questions. First of all, can you please tell me what the |
|
CFTC's rationale for using the advanced notice of proposal |
|
rulemaking was? Did someone specifically, did someone explore |
|
this issue and ask you for this particularly, because it was |
|
not included in the Dodd-Frank Bill? |
|
Mr. Gensler. The Dodd-Frank Bill says that for swaps that |
|
brought into clearing, the funds that the people put up shall |
|
not be comingled. And then it goes on to say, except for |
|
convenience. We had a roundtable to answer your question. |
|
We had a roundtable on this whole topic in the fall and |
|
numerous parties from the asset management side who have had |
|
segregated collateral accounts would like to continue to have |
|
that. I would say some from the clearing community and dealing |
|
community did not. |
|
And they all raised very thoughtful considerations. So we |
|
thought we would put out what is called an advanced notice of |
|
proposed rulemaking, ask the public, and we are considering |
|
this before even making a proposal, we are considering those |
|
comments. |
|
Mr. Scott. Would you, could you characterize for us the |
|
general feeling within the industry itself? Where are there |
|
disagreements? Does the buy side agree with their counterparts |
|
on the selling side, for example? |
|
Mr. Gensler. No, I would say there is a wide variety of |
|
views. Some on what is called the buy side or asset managers |
|
currently have segregated accounts, and they want to continue |
|
to have that. In the clearing community, you are absolutely |
|
correct. |
|
They have been accustomed for decades, our agency has said |
|
for convenience you can comingle even though the statute said |
|
not to except for convenience. That started in the 1930s. |
|
Convenience in the 1930s was different than convenience in the |
|
21st Century. |
|
So we are trying to sort that through. We may end up |
|
exactly as it is in the futures world. We may end up proposing |
|
some alternatives. We have been very well-informed. There is a |
|
range of views on that. |
|
Mr. Scott. Let us take the buy side. Are they of one mind? |
|
Is there disagreement internally within the buy side? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I would say that there are a variety of views |
|
even on the buy side. |
|
Mr. Scott. Have the clearinghouses weighed in with you on |
|
this issue yet? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes, and their comments are all on our Web |
|
site in a public file. |
|
Mr. Scott. Let me ask you one other question, Mr. Gensler. |
|
What would you say--would you say that the CFTC is effectively |
|
managing the resources that it has? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We are doing--I think the team at the CFTC is |
|
remarkable, and yes, we are not perfect. There are always some |
|
things that are going to go on and surprise you on any given |
|
day of the week. But it is a remarkably talented group of |
|
individuals who are trying to protect the public and ensure |
|
transparent markets. |
|
Mr. Scott. And in the budget the President just released, |
|
you and the SEC are two of the agencies that--two of the very |
|
few that have received a substantial increase in your budget. |
|
How do you characterize this increase? Is this efficient? |
|
Mr. Gensler. It is a good investment for the American |
|
public. We have been asked to take on a market that is about 7 |
|
times the market we currently oversee, and it is far more |
|
complicated. It has fewer transactions, but the swaps market |
|
means more to all these end users than most people even |
|
understand. So I think it is a good investment of taxpayer |
|
money. |
|
Mr. Scott. And then I would like to get on record your |
|
response to, if you could provide some insight very briefly on |
|
how the CFTC is adhering to Dodd-Frank requirements. |
|
Mr. Gensler. Dodd-Frank requirements said to consult with |
|
other agencies, to consult broadly with the public and |
|
international. That is what we were doing. We have had over 500 |
|
meetings. We put those on our Web site. We have had close to |
|
4,000 comments that have come in, all on our Web site of |
|
course. |
|
And we are complying with the statute. We don't want to |
|
overread the law. We take the comments here very seriously and |
|
we don't want to underread the law obviously as well. |
|
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Gensler. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Garrett. [presiding] And I thank the gentleman. And |
|
just to let the panel know, and everyone else in the room know |
|
as well, we will have two more members questioning, Mr. Hurt |
|
and then Mr. Green, and then this panel will be dismissed. |
|
Mr. Hurt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you all for |
|
being here. I just had really one question, but I was hoping |
|
that each of you could answer it. Considering that small banks |
|
are subject to the new clearing requirements unless the SEC and |
|
the CFTC use their authority to treat them as end users, I was |
|
wondering if you could comment on whether they should be |
|
included as end users in light of the high costs of compliance |
|
against the small percentage of swaps that they make up. |
|
But I was wondering if you could comment on whether they |
|
should be and whether they will be? Thank you. |
|
Mr. Gensler. Maybe I will address it first, because banks |
|
generally are in the interest rate space and currency space |
|
that the CFTC oversees. We put out a series of questions to get |
|
information from the public. |
|
We have been working closely with the Federal Reserve, the |
|
FDIC, and also the Farm Credit Administration and the National |
|
Credit Administration because those institutions are all |
|
involved. And so, we have not put a proposal out. |
|
These small banks, as some of the members have said, were |
|
not at the heart of the systemic crisis. But they are |
|
interconnected and so the freedom to fail of a large bank |
|
sometimes will be dependent upon if they would bring down the |
|
community banking system. |
|
You would want to let the large bank fail and not bring |
|
down the community banking system. So that is where the risk |
|
can propagate. But we are looking for the public comment to see |
|
if Congress has directed to consider this possible exemption. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Small banks are not likely to be heavy users |
|
of part of the swaps markets. The SEC will regulate the |
|
security-based swaps. But we did propose as an alternative a |
|
small bank exemption. |
|
Mr. Hurt. But--just to be clear, it sounds like that is |
|
something the SEC has proposed but the CFTC is not inclined-- |
|
Mr. Gensler. No, in fact what we did was we-- |
|
Mr. Hurt. --to support? |
|
Mr. Gensler. I wouldn't want to leave you with that |
|
impression. It is really we are in the midst of a process of |
|
getting economic data and public comment on how to move |
|
forward. So we didn't make a formal proposal. We said, give us |
|
help on this from the public. We are doing the same with the |
|
Federal Reserve and all of the various regulators. |
|
Mr. Tarullo. Congressman, you perhaps won't be surprised to |
|
hear that our position before, during and after the legislation |
|
has been we do think that there is good reason for smaller bank |
|
exemption precisely because we want them to be able to do the |
|
business of banking. They are not swaps dealers, obviously. |
|
They would be regulated if they were. But of course, it is not |
|
committed to us by Congress to make that decision. We are just |
|
a commenter. |
|
Mr. Hurt. Thank you very much. |
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Garrett. Thank you. And the gentleman yields back? |
|
Mr. Green? |
|
Mr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the ranking |
|
member and the chairman for allowing the time, and I will be |
|
sharing it with Mr. Perlmutter. I will move as expeditiously as |
|
possible. Let me ask you, Ms. Schapiro, is it true that if the |
|
projected budget cuts take place you will have to cut |
|
personnel? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. It is not exactly clear yet how we will |
|
balance the impact on personnel spending with the impact on our |
|
technology spending. We are a larger agency than the CFTC so we |
|
have a little bit more flexibility as between those two major |
|
buckets of our expenditures, and we haven't worked those issues |
|
out yet. |
|
Mr. Green. If you have to cut your technology, does this |
|
mean that you will not be able to upgrade your systems? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I think it would be virtually devastating for |
|
the SEC to have to cut its technology budget. When I arrived 2 |
|
years ago, I discovered that we are many, many years behind our |
|
markets in our use of technology, sophistication of our |
|
technology, our capabilities with respect to technology. We |
|
have made a concerted effort over the last 2 years to try to |
|
improve that situation and putting the brakes on it is painful. |
|
Mr. Green. And I will quickly add this, currently you have |
|
about 3,000--3,800 employees, correct? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. That is right. |
|
Mr. Green. And you oversee approximately 35,000 entities? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes, if you count public companies for whom |
|
we review the public disclosure, as well as 11,000 investment |
|
advisors and 5,000 broker-dealers and exchanges and electronic |
|
trading--electronic communication networks and transfer agents |
|
and clearing agencies, we get pretty close to that number. |
|
Mr. Green. And also those advisors that you mentioned. They |
|
manage about $33 trillion? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes. |
|
Mr. Green. So you have a pretty big job. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. We do. We have about 12 examiners for every |
|
trillion dollars of assets under management compared to about |
|
19 examiners just a few years ago. |
|
Mr. Green. And cutting you would--if you had to cut |
|
personnel, would it hurt your ability to police? |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I believe it would. That is not to say we |
|
can't continue to find, and we have a Tiger Team working on the |
|
efficiencies and savings because there undoubtedly are some. |
|
Mr. Green. And may I add-- |
|
Ms. Schapiro. Yes, I would agree. |
|
Mr. Green. --I admire you for being as delicate as you are |
|
because I understand that the integrity of the system hinges on |
|
your every word. So I appreciate the delicate fashion in which |
|
you have handled this. But I, on the other hand, don't have to |
|
be quite as delicate. |
|
And I would hope that we would not take the cops off the |
|
beat at the time that we need them greatly. We have seen what |
|
can happen when markets have a sharp downturn and when |
|
integrity is lost. So my hope is that we won't do this. Now, I |
|
have to yield to Mr. Perlmutter, the balance of my time. |
|
Ms. Schapiro. I agree with you though. Investor confidence |
|
is absolutely critical to our economy, and the cop on the beat |
|
is important to that equation. |
|
Mr. Green. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Garrett. We appreciate those remarks and we will move-- |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Thank you. I thank the Chair. But I found |
|
another microphone, and I just want to follow up on what Mr. |
|
Green just had to say. |
|
First, let me just put something to bed, Mr. Gensler, |
|
please. On the end user derivatives, hedging for the future by |
|
somebody like Coors that wants to buy barley next summer, |
|
because they have a business that they have to conduct from |
|
year to year. That is not where you are not talking about |
|
putting margins on that, are you? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Absolutely correct. We are not talking about |
|
putting margins on them. And barley swaps would be allowed |
|
under a proposed agricultural swap proposal we put out. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. But I mean just generally, end users |
|
hedging for products that they will need as part of their |
|
business are not part of the margin requirement that you are |
|
considering? |
|
Mr. Gensler. We have yet to propose that, but that is |
|
correct for non-financial end users. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Okay. Good. And let me just get back to the |
|
basics, though. The basics and what I am bothered about by |
|
particular questions of my Republican colleagues is that there |
|
seems to be a mass case of amnesia, that 2 years ago, 2\1/2\ |
|
years ago under the Bush Aministration, the stock market and |
|
every financial market crashed terribly, multiplied by |
|
derivatives, financial generally in nature. |
|
And my question to the entire panel is based on what |
|
happened when so many people lost their jobs, so many people |
|
lost their pensions, so many people lost wealth all across this |
|
country, do we need people in positions to regulate Wall Street |
|
and the financial transactions that take place there? And will |
|
the budgets that have been proposed by the Republicans cut into |
|
your ability to do that? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Yes, we need people. We are a good investment. |
|
We are only 680 people, to use arithmetic, that oversees the |
|
futures market. It is about $60 billion of futures per person. |
|
But swaps, we will have a half a trillion dollars of swaps per |
|
person. The budget as proposed-- |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Half a trillion per person? |
|
Mr. Gensler. Per person. We think we need more people. And |
|
we need more technology. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. I think we can end on that. I thank you. |
|
And I yield back to the chairman. |
|
Mr. Garrett. And I thank the gentleman for yielding back. |
|
And I thank the gentleman for reminding us of the Bush |
|
Administration, as well. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. I didn't want you to feel left out. |
|
Mr. Garrett. Without this term. And I would like to thank |
|
all the members of the panel and also for all the staff that |
|
you bring with you to these meetings, as well. |
|
Ms. Waters. And Mr. Chairman, may I have a unanimous |
|
consent request? I would like to have unanimous consent to |
|
enter into the record a story from the New York Times that |
|
appeared last night which notes that some economists who were |
|
listed as advisors on the Business Roundtable study that I |
|
noted in my questioning, have requested that their names be |
|
removed from the study? |
|
Mr. Garrett. Without objection, it is so ordered. |
|
Ms. Waters. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Garrett. And again, I thank the panel. And the Chair |
|
also notes that some members may have additional questions for |
|
this panel, which they may wish to submit in writing. So |
|
without objection, the hearing record will remain open for 30 |
|
days for members to submit written questions to these witnesses |
|
and to place their responses in the record. |
|
And as soon as this panel makes their way out, we will be |
|
looking forward to our next panel. |
|
I thank the members of the panel for their patience, but |
|
more importantly, for their testimony that we are about to |
|
receive. So let me begin. And I will be brief, as we run |
|
through panel two. I think it is set up in the same order that |
|
I have here, from left to right, my left to right: Mr. Craig |
|
Reiners, director of commodity risk management, MillerCoors, on |
|
behalf of the Coalition of Derivative End Users; Mr. Donald F. |
|
Donahue, chairman and chief executive officer of the Depository |
|
Trust & Clearing Corporation, the DTCC; Mr. Terry Duffy, |
|
executive chairman, CME Group; Mr. Don Thompson, managing |
|
director and associate general counsel, JPMorgan Chase, on |
|
behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets |
|
Association, SIFMA; Mr. James Cawley, chief executive officer, |
|
Javelin, on behalf of the Swaps and Derivative Market |
|
Association, SDMA; and Mr. Chris Giancarlo, executive vice |
|
president, corporate development, GFI Group, Inc. And I thank |
|
the panel for being with us today. |
|
At this time, before I proceed, I will turn to Mr. Dold |
|
from Illinois for an introduction. |
|
Mr. Dold. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to take |
|
this opportunity to introduce one of the panelists to my |
|
colleagues. Coming from the Chicagoland area, having worked in |
|
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange early on in college, I wanted |
|
to take this opportunity to introduce Chairman Duffy, who has |
|
been a CME member since 1981. |
|
He started out as somebody on the floor, at the bottom, and |
|
has worked his way up to be the top of the chain, the food |
|
chain, if you will, and he certainly represents a number of |
|
people. He was one of the chief architects in 2007 of the |
|
merger between the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago |
|
Mercantile Exchange, which is now the world's leading and most |
|
diverse derivatives marketplace. |
|
He also, at the request of President Bush, served on the |
|
National Saver Summit on retirement savings, and is a member of |
|
the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. He is widely |
|
recognized as a leader and expert in his field. He has |
|
testified numerous times before Congress; I don't know if that |
|
is a good thing or a bad thing. But we certainly appreciate |
|
your time today, as we do all the panelists. And so, we thank |
|
you very much and I just wanted to give a little background for |
|
my colleagues. |
|
Mr. Garrett. And I appreciate that. We will now turn to the |
|
panel. And I guess one of the most interesting aspects of the |
|
entire panel that was already referenced earlier today, and |
|
that is the price of beer, okay, going forward. |
|
Mr. Reiners, 5 minutes. |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF CRAIG REINERS, DIRECTOR OF RISK MANAGEMENT, |
|
MILLERCOORS LLC, ON BEHALF OF THE COALITION FOR DERIVATIVES |
|
END-USERS |
|
|
|
Mr. Reiners. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, and members of |
|
the committee. My name is Craig Reiners. I am a beer guy from |
|
Milwaukee. My team manages the commodity price risk for |
|
MillerCoors. I am also testifying on behalf of the Coalition |
|
for Derivatives End Users. I am very pleased to have this |
|
opportunity to offer perspectives on rulemaking relating to the |
|
Dodd-Frank derivatives title. |
|
MillerCoors operates breweries in California, Ohio, North |
|
Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Colorado, and Wisconsin, as |
|
well as the Leinenkugel's Craft Brewery and two microbreweries. |
|
Last year, we shipped 67 million barrels and sales reached $7.6 |
|
billion. |
|
Our 9,000 employees share a vision to create America's best |
|
beer company by driving profitable industry growth. MillerCoors |
|
insists on building its brands the right way through quality, |
|
responsible marketing, environmental stewardship, and community |
|
involvement. |
|
Rather than read verbatim from my submitted statement, |
|
allow me to highlight our key six messages. Number one, we |
|
fully support market transparency. Number two, as an end user, |
|
our use of derivatives is strictly used to manage price |
|
volatility intrinsic to physical commodities. Number three, our |
|
Board-approved commodity risk management policy strictly |
|
prohibits speculation. |
|
Number four, we support a broad end user exemption. Number |
|
five, we urge regulators to avoid creating unnecessary trading |
|
requirements with the unintended consequences of forcing |
|
companies to either retain more risk or seek alternatives |
|
offshore. |
|
And finally, number six, we urge caution relative to a |
|
compressed rulemaking timeline, which may not allow market |
|
participants the opportunity to provide valuable feedback. |
|
Now, to a bit more clarification. We support this |
|
committee's efforts to ensure derivatives markets operate |
|
efficiently and are well-regulated. We agree that proper |
|
regulation should reduce systemic risk and increase |
|
transparency in the over-the-counter markets. At the same time, |
|
the prudent risk of derivatives by end user companies such as |
|
MillerCoors does not generate risk or instability in the |
|
financial marketplace and played no role in the financial |
|
crisis. |
|
On the contrary, these risk management tools are critical |
|
to reducing commercial risk and volatility in our day-to-day |
|
businesses. Our commitment to our customers is to produce the |
|
best beer in the United States and deliver it at a competitive |
|
price. In order to achieve those goals, we must prudently |
|
manage our commodity risks. |
|
I believe the use of derivatives offers end users of |
|
physical commodities the risk management tools to provide a |
|
necessary degree of predictability to our earnings. Our single |
|
largest risk is aluminum. Our agricultural risks, of course, |
|
include malt and barley, corn and hops. Our energy risk |
|
portfolio includes coal, natural gas, deregulated electricity, |
|
and diesel fuel. |
|
As I mentioned before, our Board-approved commodity risk |
|
policy clearly forbids any and all speculation. The policy |
|
allows us to use over-the-counter swaps to precisely match the |
|
timing and prices of our complex manufacturing and distribution |
|
process. |
|
For example, we match our OTC swaps for aluminum with the |
|
actual use of cans over the same exact timeframe. This risk |
|
management technique allows us to manage costs, reduce price |
|
volatility, and manage cash flow within a reasonable parameter. |
|
In fact, we would create significantly more price volatility in |
|
our business by not hedging. |
|
We believe that end users generally share the concern that |
|
if the cost of hedging our risks rises significantly, entry |
|
into swaps may no longer be economical. The result would be a |
|
reduction in risk mitigation through hedging, which, |
|
ironically, could increase risk and exposure to market |
|
volatility. We believe that a broad end user exemption is |
|
critically important as the CFTC and SEC creates their final |
|
rules. |
|
During the regulatory process, we have sought to ensure |
|
that the exemption created by Congress would not be unduly |
|
narrowed. In particular, we have urged regulators to give |
|
thoughtful consideration to key definitions to ensure that end |
|
users like us are not saddled with bank-like regulation. |
|
I would like to address the prospect of margin being |
|
imposed on future, even previously entered contracts. This |
|
requirement would be particularly burdensome to end users like |
|
MillerCoors. Retroactive application of margin requirements |
|
would upset the reasonable expectations we had when we entered |
|
into our existing risk management contracts. |
|
We engaged in extensive negotiations with our financial |
|
counterparties to develop our ISDA agreements, which |
|
established our expectations for the future and included |
|
vigorous credit stipulations. Any retroactive application of |
|
margin requirements would be punitive. |
|
MillerCoors urges the financial regulators to avoid |
|
creating rigid and expensive trading requirements that |
|
unintentionally could cause companies either to retain more |
|
risk or seek risk management alternatives. By utilizing OTC |
|
swaps, we are able to customize our hedges to perfectly match |
|
the underlying exposure. |
|
The current rulemaking timeline is compressed, which may |
|
force regulators to prioritize speed over quality. We urge |
|
Congress to provide regulators with more time for rulemaking |
|
and for regulators to allow market participants sufficient time |
|
for implementation. I am confident in the way that these |
|
products are utilized by our company and other end users, |
|
actually benefits the economy by reducing volatility and |
|
increasing stability. |
|
On behalf of MillerCoors and the Coalition, I thank the |
|
committee for allowing me to appear today to discuss these |
|
important issues. And I am happy to answer any questions you |
|
may have. That concludes my testimony. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Reiners can be found on page |
|
309 of the appendix.] |
|
Mr. Garrett. And sir, thank you for your testimony. |
|
I believe you were all advised of this beforehand, but I |
|
will just reiterate, since some of you have testified before |
|
the committee before and others have not. And that is the clock |
|
in front of you has green, yellow, and red lights. The yellow |
|
light gives you the 1-minute warning so you can begin to sum |
|
up. |
|
Mr. Donahue? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF DONALD F. DONAHUE, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE |
|
OFFICER, THE DEPOSITORY TRUST & CLEARING CORPORATION (DTCC) |
|
|
|
Mr. Donahue. Chairman Garrett, members of the committee, I |
|
am here today representing the Depository Trust & Clearing |
|
Corporation a non-commercial industry utility that in 2010 |
|
settled roughly $1.7 quadrillion of U.S. securities |
|
transactions. |
|
Since 2006, we have operated the Trade Information |
|
Warehouse, a global swaps data repository currently covering |
|
about 98 percent of all credit derivatives transactions, some |
|
2.3 million contracts, with a notional value of $29 trillion. |
|
I appreciate this opportunity to share our thoughts on the |
|
implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. In |
|
particular, I will focus on the swap data repository system for |
|
providing the necessary transparency into the global OTC |
|
derivatives markets. |
|
We share Congress' goal of ensuring more transparency in |
|
these markets to further global regulatory oversight and |
|
systemic risk mitigation. As many of the regulatory aspects of |
|
Dodd-Frank remain in development, transparency is a policy |
|
option that is most right for implementation. |
|
I make two fundamental points today. First, transparency is |
|
key to any attempt to mitigate systemic risk in the swap |
|
markets. All swaps, cleared and uncleared, must be reported to |
|
swap data repositories. |
|
To the extent derivatives contributed to the financial |
|
crisis, it was due to the lack of a unified view of which |
|
categories of market participants held wide exposures in the |
|
swap markets. The model needed to address this transparency |
|
concern has since been largely formalized for the credit |
|
default swap market in DTCC's Trade Information Warehouse. |
|
Leveraging the warehouse, late in 2008 we began providing |
|
standard position risk reports to appropriate authorities |
|
worldwide and publishing comprehensive market information free |
|
of charge. |
|
More recently, as we announced just this morning, we |
|
inaugurated an online portal through which global regulators, |
|
currently 19 worldwide, can securely and directly access |
|
detailed data from the warehouse's global data sets. |
|
Had this level of transparency about the CDS market existed |
|
in the run-up to the 2008 crisis, it would have mitigated a |
|
substantial amount of uncertainty that then contributed to |
|
market instability. |
|
DTCC believes that the most immediate and cost-effective |
|
approach to meeting Dodd-Frank's transparency goals will rely |
|
on proven repository infrastructure that currently provides |
|
regulators and the public this type of comprehensive market |
|
information. |
|
Providing transparency in the CDS market is a cooperative |
|
effort. I focused on the warehouse achievement to bring to the |
|
committee's attention why it has been successful. It would not |
|
have been possible without a substantial degree of global |
|
regulatory cooperation and support. |
|
But while this global supervisory push was a critical |
|
element, it was also important to the success that DTCC is not |
|
a commercial entity. We have no motivation other than to |
|
provide a central place for reporting and regulatory access to |
|
the data for both market and risk surveillance purposes. |
|
This removes commercial concerns from what is and must |
|
remain a market utility-based regulatory and supervisory |
|
support function. The structure created works because all |
|
market participants and all clearers and trading platforms with |
|
any significant volume are cooperating. If this cooperation |
|
were to fail, the data published and made accessible to |
|
regulators would fragment leading inevitably to misleading |
|
reporting of exposures. |
|
What would follow would be an exceptionally expensive if |
|
not politically impossible task for regulators to rebuild |
|
complex data aggregation and reporting mechanisms that the |
|
industry and regulators themselves have already created in a |
|
single place at DTCC. Both of these results appear undesirable |
|
in the extreme. |
|
The challenge ahead is to bring similar transparency to |
|
other parts of the swap markets. I commend the work of both the |
|
SEC and the CFTC in their thorough and thoughtful approach to |
|
this very complex challenge. |
|
It is our sense as an industry-governed utility with both |
|
buy and sell side members on our governing bodies that market |
|
participants are poised to undertake the significant |
|
cooperative effort necessary to complete the transparency of |
|
these markets as contemplated by Dodd-Frank. |
|
I urge the committee in exercising its oversight function |
|
to focus on removing obstacles to this process and to continue |
|
to use proven infrastructure while avoiding injection of |
|
commercial considerations that could hinder the cooperative |
|
attitude that so far has made progress possible. |
|
Thank you, and I am available for any of your questions. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Donahue can be found on page |
|
81 of the appendix.] |
|
Mr. Garrett. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Duffy? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF TERRENCE A. DUFFY, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, CME GROUP |
|
INC. |
|
|
|
Mr. Duffy. Thank you. Chairman Garrett and members of the |
|
committee, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify |
|
on the regulatory implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street |
|
Reform and Consumer Protection Act. I also want to thank |
|
Congressman Dold for that kind introduction and of course his |
|
leadership, not only in Congress but back in his district. |
|
As the Congressman said, I am Terry Duffy, executive |
|
chairman of the CME Group, which includes our clearinghouse and |
|
our four exchanges: CME; CBOT; NYMEX; and COMEX. In 2000, |
|
Congress adopted the Commodity Futures Modernization Act which |
|
leveled the playing field with our foreign competitors and |
|
permitted us to recapture our position as the world's most |
|
innovative and successful regulated exchange and clearinghouse. |
|
As a result, we remain an engine of economic growth in |
|
Chicago, New York, and the Nation. In 2008, the financial |
|
crisis focused well-warranted attention on the lack of |
|
regulation of OTC financial markets. |
|
The Nation learned painful lessons regarding unregulated |
|
derivatives trading. But we also demonstrated that regulated |
|
futures markets and futures clearinghouses operated flawlessly |
|
before, during, and after the crisis. Futures customers were |
|
protected. |
|
Congress responded to the financial crisis by adopting the |
|
Dodd-Frank Act to reduce systemic risk through central clearing |
|
and exchange trading of derivatives, to increase data |
|
transparency and price discovery, and to prevent fraud and |
|
market manipulation. We support these goals but our concern is |
|
that the CFTC's regulation of futures exchanges and |
|
clearinghouses will impose unwarranted cost and stifle |
|
innovation. |
|
We are not alone. Several Commissioners have cautioned |
|
against regulations that unnecessarily expand the Commission's |
|
workforce. While we are proponents of an adequate budget for |
|
our regulator, we object to the expansion of the Commission and |
|
its budget to enforce regulations that are uncalled for by |
|
Dodd-Frank or that take over responsibilities from SROs. |
|
We object to regulations that are not cost-benefit |
|
justified. Much of the problem results from the CFTC's efforts |
|
to expand its authority by changing its role from an oversight |
|
agency, whose purpose has been to assure compliance with sound |
|
principles, to a front-line decision-maker that imposes its |
|
business judgments on every operational aspect of derivatives |
|
trading and clearing. |
|
This role reversal will require a doubling of the |
|
Commission staff and budget. It will also impose astronomical |
|
cost on the industry and the end users of derivatives. There is |
|
no evidence that any of this is necessary or even likely to be |
|
useful. Dodd-Frank was not an invitation to pile regulatory |
|
burdens on regulated exchanges and clearinghouses. |
|
For example, Congress preserved and expanded a principles- |
|
based regulatory approach by expanding the list of core |
|
principles and granting self-regulatory organizations |
|
reasonable discretion in establishing the manner in which a |
|
self-regulatory organization complies with the core principles. |
|
The Commission asked for and Congress gave it power to adopt |
|
rules respecting core principles but Congress did not direct |
|
the agency to put an end to a principle-based regime. |
|
Yet, the Commission immediately and for no apparent reason |
|
proposed comprehensive regulations to convert most of the key |
|
core principles into prescriptive rules-based regulatory |
|
system. This is the ultimate solution in search of a problem. |
|
The crisis of 2008 did not arise from a failure of the |
|
regulated transparent futures markets. |
|
And the scope of Dodd-Frank is narrower than many of the |
|
CFTC rules proposed would suggest. Implementation would be |
|
similarly tailored. My written testimony includes numerous |
|
additional examples of misdirected or improper rulemaking. We |
|
welcome the outreach Chairman Gensler has recently demonstrated |
|
in seeking public input on Dodd-Frank implementation. |
|
This is a step in the right direction but more needs to be |
|
done. The Congress can mitigate some of the problems that have |
|
plagued the CFTC rulemaking process. They can do this by |
|
expanding Dodd-Frank's effective date and the rulemaking |
|
schedule so that professionals including exchanges, |
|
clearinghouses, dealers, market makers, and end users can have |
|
their views heard. |
|
This would give the CFTC a realistic opportunity to assess |
|
those views and measure the real cost imposed by these new |
|
regulations. Otherwise, the unintended adverse consequences of |
|
those ambiguities and the rush to regulation will stifle |
|
effective exchange innovation. |
|
We are concerned that overly prescriptive regulations, |
|
which are inconsistent with the sound industry practices, will |
|
make it more difficult to reach Dodd-Frank's goal of increasing |
|
transparency and limiting risk. |
|
I thank the committee for its time this morning. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Duffy can be found on page |
|
257 of the appendix.] |
|
Mr. Garrett. Thank you for your testimony. |
|
Mr. Thompson? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF DON THOMPSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR AND ASSOCIATE |
|
GENERAL COUNSEL, JPMORGAN CHASE & CO., ON BEHALF OF THE |
|
SECURITIES INDUSTRY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS ASSOCIATION (SIFMA) |
|
|
|
Mr. Thompson. Chairman Garrett and members of the |
|
committee, my name is Don Thompson. I am the senior derivatives |
|
lawyer at JPMorgan, and I am here today on behalf of SIFMA. |
|
Thank you for inviting me to testify. |
|
As this committee is well aware, American companies use |
|
over-the-counter derivatives to manage a wide variety of risks |
|
that they encounter in their day-to-day business, such as |
|
interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, and commodity price |
|
risk. We act as a financial intermediary to help clients manage |
|
these risks in a flexible manner. |
|
Many clients choose to manage risk from the over-the- |
|
counter market and as the committee has heard in testimony from |
|
American companies, the use of over-the-counter derivatives has |
|
a significant impact on their ability to compete |
|
internationally. While over-the-counter derivatives have many |
|
benefits, it is also the case that there have been problems |
|
with their use and with their oversight. |
|
We support many of the provisions in Title VII including |
|
mandatory registration of regulation of swap dealers, mandatory |
|
clearing of standardized contracts between financial firms, and |
|
greater pre and post-trade transparency. |
|
It is worth keeping in mind that these and other reforms |
|
taken together will fundamentally alter the market structure of |
|
the over-the-counter derivatives market, which will impact |
|
liquidity and efficiency in these markets. |
|
Given these wholesale changes, it is critical that the |
|
regulations implementing them be done thoughtfully to ensure |
|
that American companies continue to have access to these |
|
products. We are increasingly concerned, however, that the |
|
accelerated pace of rulemaking, risks, unintended consequences |
|
that will put American end users at a competitive disadvantage. |
|
We are also concerned that the statutory deadlines may be |
|
too aggressive, limiting regulatory flexibility to craft |
|
appropriate rules. For example, for real-time reporting in |
|
block trade levels, gathering data from market participants is |
|
a necessary prerequisite to setting effective standards and |
|
such data should inform these rulemakings. |
|
In the rush to meet statutory deadlines, there has been |
|
insufficient focus on the statutory mandate to examine the |
|
effects of proposals on market liquidity. Without care, there |
|
is a real risk that the current proposals will drive liquidity |
|
out of U.S. markets and increase the cost of or even the |
|
ability to manage risk. |
|
We believe the agencies need to carefully implement the |
|
statute to preserve liquidity, enable American companies to |
|
continue to manage their risks in an increasingly volatile and |
|
competitive global marketplace. |
|
Despite transatlantic dialogue over derivatives regulation, |
|
we are also concerned about the competitive harm resulting from |
|
differences in final regulations between the United States and |
|
Europe. This concern extends to the gap in implementation dates |
|
in Europe and other jurisdictions, as well as confusion over |
|
the extraterritorial application of Title VII's provision. |
|
This problem can be addressed by a simple clarification of |
|
the intended extraterritorial reach of the Act, by harmonizing |
|
the implementation timetables between the United States and the |
|
E.U., or by both. |
|
In addition, certain proposed regulations treat very |
|
similar products differently in a way that will create |
|
duplicative reporting and compliance regimes that will be |
|
burdensome and will reduce the transparency benefits of |
|
information ultimately reported to the public under those |
|
regimes. |
|
I would like to conclude by saying that JPMorgan is |
|
committed to working with Congress, regulators, and industry |
|
participants to ensure that Title VII is implemented |
|
appropriately and effectively. I appreciate the opportunity to |
|
testify before the committee. I look forward to answering any |
|
questions you may have. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Thompson can be found on |
|
page 330 of the appendix. ] |
|
Mr. Garrett. I thank you, sir. |
|
Mr. Cawley, please, for 5 minutes. |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF JAMES CAWLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JAVELIN |
|
CAPITAL MARKETS, ON BEHALF OF THE SWAPS AND DERIVATIVES MARKET |
|
ASSOCIATION (SDMA) |
|
|
|
Mr. Cawley. Thank you. Congressman Garrett and members of |
|
the committee, my name is James Cawley. I am CEO of Javelin |
|
Capital Markets, an electronic execution venue of OTC |
|
derivatives that expects to register as a SEF or swap execution |
|
facility under Dodd-Frank. Thank you for inviting me here today |
|
to testify. |
|
I am here to represent the interests of the Swaps and |
|
Derivatives Market Association, which is comprised of multiple |
|
independent derivatives dealers and clearing brokers, some of |
|
whom are the largest in the world. When called to testify |
|
today, I was reminded of the main reason for which we are here, |
|
to fix the derivatives market such that we never again have to |
|
call upon the U.S. taxpayer to bail out Wall Street. |
|
The bilateral counterparty risk baked into every credit |
|
derivatives and interest rate swap contract still constitutes |
|
an unacceptable systemic risk to the national financial payment |
|
system specifically and to the broader economy as a whole. |
|
Simply put, such bilateralism acted as an accelerant to the |
|
crisis much like gasoline does to a forest fire. |
|
To help ensure in the future that the government and more |
|
specifically the U.S. taxpayer doesn't have to bail out the |
|
next trading firm that fails, we must ensure that central |
|
clearing and, more importantly, transparent execution of OTC |
|
derivatives is a success. We must transition away from ``too- |
|
interconnected-to-fail'', where one firm fails and pulls three |
|
others down with it. |
|
Central clearing membership requirements should be |
|
objective, publicly disclosed, and permit fair and open access |
|
as Dodd-Frank requires. This is important because clearing |
|
members act as the gatekeepers to clearing. Without open access |
|
to clearing, you will not have universal clearing of options, |
|
increased transparency, and lessened systemic risk. |
|
Clearinghouses should seek to be inclusive, not exclusive, |
|
in their membership criteria. They should learn from their own |
|
experience in the list of derivatives space of futures and |
|
options. |
|
In those markets, central clearing has operated |
|
successfully since the days of post-Civil War Reconstruction |
|
nearly 150 years ago, long before spreadsheets and risk models. |
|
In those markets, counterparty risk is spread over 100 |
|
disparate and non-correlated clearing firms. It works well, and |
|
no customer has ever lost money due to a clearing member |
|
failure. |
|
To complement broad participation, clearinghouses should |
|
not have unreasonable capital requirements. Capital should be a |
|
function of the risk a member contributes to the system. Simply |
|
put, the more you or your customers trade, the more capital you |
|
contribute. The SDMA supports the CFTC's call for clearing |
|
broker capital requirements to be proportionate in scale |
|
relative to the risk introduced to the system. |
|
We support the CFTC's call that the clearing firms' minimum |
|
capital be closer to $50 million rather than the closer to the |
|
$5 billion or $1 billion threshold that certain clearinghouses |
|
have originally suggested. It is worth remembering that Lehman |
|
Brothers and Bear Stearns would have met the $1 billion |
|
threshold until the days of their failure. |
|
Certain clearinghouse operational requirements for |
|
membership that have no bearing on capital or capability should |
|
be seen for what they are, transparent attempts to limit |
|
competition. Specifically, clearing members should not be |
|
required to operate swap dealer desks just so they can meet |
|
their obligation in the default management process. |
|
These requirements can easily be met contractually through |
|
agreements with third party firms or dealers. Clearinghouse |
|
governance should be balanced and transparent. Such governance |
|
bodies should represent the interests of the market as a whole |
|
and not the interest of the few. |
|
With regard to conflicts of interest with a clearing |
|
member, Dodd-Frank is clear. Dealer desks should not be allowed |
|
to influence their clearing member colleagues and strict |
|
Chinese law should exist. With regard to trading derivatives, |
|
clearinghouses must accept trades on an execution blind basis. |
|
Customers should be allowed to trade with whom they want. |
|
They should not be forced to execute trades in such a way where |
|
one side of that trade is done with an incumbent dealer. |
|
They should also be able to trade with dealers who do not |
|
self-clear but make markets nonetheless and provide the |
|
liquidity so vital to the integrity of the system. For their |
|
part, swap execution facilities should also offer open access. |
|
They should offer pre and post-trade transparency in an |
|
otherwise opaque marketplace. SEFs should seek to report their |
|
trades within seconds, as is the case in other markets. It is |
|
well-established with the introduction of greater transparency, |
|
more market makers and increased competition, a safer playing |
|
field will emerge to directly enhance liquidity and market |
|
integrity which in turn lowers the systemic risk. |
|
In conclusion, the CFTC and the SEC should be commended for |
|
their excellent work. Both agencies have been transparent and |
|
accessible throughout the entire process. They have adapted to |
|
industry suggestion when appropriate, and Congress should |
|
provide them funding that they need. |
|
We must move away from ``too-into-connected-to-fail.'' We |
|
must work together to ensure that when the next investment |
|
house fails, and they do, that we are properly prepared for it. |
|
I thank you for your time. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Cawley can be found on page |
|
77 of the appendix.] |
|
Mr. Garrett. And I found that illuminating. Thank you very |
|
much for the testimony and from the gentleman from the great |
|
State of New Jersey and the 5th District as well. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo please? |
|
|
|
STATEMENT OF J. CHRISTOPHER GIANCARLO, EXECUTIVE VICE |
|
PRESIDENT, CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT, GFI GROUP INC. |
|
|
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Thank you, Congressman, and thank you |
|
members of the committee. I am Chris Giancarlo, executive vice |
|
president of GFI Group, an American company and a global |
|
wholesale broker of swaps and other financial products. |
|
I am also a Board member and former chairman of the |
|
Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association. As such, I speak from |
|
the perspective of the wholesale brokerage industry that |
|
handles over 90 percent of intermediated over-the-counter swaps |
|
trading in the United States and around the world today. |
|
Wholesale brokers are the prototype of competing swap |
|
execution facilities or SEFs. The core impact of Title VII of |
|
Dodd-Frank is to replace a market in which swaps are often |
|
traded directly between counterparties with a system for most |
|
transactions where a central clearing facility acts as a single |
|
counterparty to each market participant and where transactions |
|
are executed on regulated trading facilities including the |
|
newly created definition of SEFs. |
|
The goal of these two initiatives, clearing and |
|
intermediation, is better safety and soundness for U.S. swaps |
|
markets. Dodd-Frank promotes a market structure where competing |
|
SEFs and exchanges vie with each other to provide better |
|
services at lower cost in order to win the execution business |
|
of market participants. |
|
Dodd-Frank rejected the anti-competitive single silo |
|
exchange model for the futures industry where clearing and |
|
execution are intertwined. Dodd-Frank expressly permits swaps |
|
to be executed by SEFs using ``any means of interstate |
|
commerce.'' |
|
Congress left it to the marketplace to determine the best |
|
modes of execution and thereby foster technological innovation |
|
and development. Congress specifically did not choose to impose |
|
a federally-mandated one-size-fits-all transaction methodology |
|
on the swaps market. |
|
Liquidity in today's swaps markets is fundamentally |
|
different than in futures and equities markets and naturally |
|
determines the optimal mode of market transparency and trade |
|
execution. |
|
Wholesale brokers are experts in fostering liquidity and |
|
transparency by utilizing trade execution methods that feature |
|
a hybrid blend of knowledgeable brokers and sophisticated |
|
electronic technology that are specifically tailored to the |
|
unique liquidity characteristics of particular swaps market. |
|
There are three critical elements that regulators need to |
|
get right. First, SEFs must not be restricted from deploying |
|
the many varied trade execution methods successfully used |
|
today. It would be detrimental to market liquidity to mandate |
|
restrictive transaction methodologies or to experiment with |
|
rules taken from the highly commoditized equities or futures |
|
markets. |
|
Moreover, U.S. regulations need to be in harmony with those |
|
of foreign jurisdictions to avoid driving liquidity toward |
|
overseas markets that may offer greater flexibility in modes of |
|
trade execution. |
|
Second, the goal of pre-trade transparency can be realized |
|
through means that are already developed by wholesale brokers |
|
to garner and disseminate pricing information and not by |
|
artificial mechanisms that may restrict market liquidity for |
|
end users and other traders. |
|
Third, regulators need to carefully structure a public |
|
trade reporting system that takes into account the unique |
|
challenges of swaps trading. The objective must be to strike a |
|
balance between price transparency and market liquidity. |
|
If the rules do not properly define the size of block |
|
trades, information, and time delays, they will surely cause a |
|
negative impact to liquidity, disturbing end users' ability to |
|
hedge commercial risk and to plan for their future. |
|
The Wholesale Markets Brokers' Association has proposed a |
|
block trade standards advisory board of recognized experts from |
|
data repositories and SEFs to make recommendations to the |
|
regulators for appropriate blocks trade rules. |
|
The regulators and their staff deserve to be commended. |
|
They are working very hard to get this right. It is crucial |
|
that they gain a thorough understanding of the many modes of |
|
swaps trade execution and price dissemination deployed by |
|
wholesale brokers and accommodate those methods in trading |
|
practices in their SEF rules. |
|
It is only with such understanding that they can draft |
|
regulations that are properly tailored and effective. I am |
|
optimistic that given enough time and resources, regulators |
|
will craft SEF rules that are well-suited to the existing |
|
trading methods in the swaps market resulting in shorter and |
|
more effective implementation periods. |
|
As the adage goes, ``measure twice, cut once.'' We |
|
certainly don't want to have to cut this thing twice. Congress |
|
can assist with needed technical corrections to Dodd-Frank and |
|
crucially, by providing regulators with adequate time and |
|
resources to thoroughly understand the challenges and solutions |
|
to garnering trading liquidity in the swaps markets. Taking |
|
adequate time to get the regulations right will expedite the |
|
implementation of the worthy goals of Dodd-Frank, that is, |
|
central counterparty clearing and effective trade execution and |
|
provide end users and other traders with more competitive |
|
pricing, increased transparency, and deeper trading liquidity |
|
for their risk management needs. |
|
I thank you and I look forward to your questions. |
|
[The prepared statement of Mr. Giancarlo can be found on |
|
page 288 of the appendix.] |
|
Mr. Garrett. Thank you. And I thank the entire panel. |
|
We will now turn to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Grimm. |
|
Mr. Grimm. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the |
|
panel. Mr. Giancarlo, since you just finished, I will start |
|
with you if I may? I wanted you to expand a little bit about |
|
the multiple modes of execution. |
|
I for one think it is important: voice, hybrid, electronic. |
|
These modes, if you can expand why it is so important to have |
|
multiple modes rather than wholly electronic platform, I would |
|
ask you that question. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Thank you, Congressman. Liquidity in the |
|
swaps market is very different than in the futures and equities |
|
markets, the nature of liquidity. Just to give you an example, |
|
80 percent of the reference entities, swaps on 80 percent of |
|
the reference entities in the credit derivatives market, trade |
|
less than 5 times a day. |
|
It is not the same type of marketplace where you have a |
|
continuous tape that you do in a futures market or an equities |
|
market, and therefore the means by which experienced |
|
intermediaries bring parties together in this marketplace are |
|
very different. |
|
At GFI Group, and at our competing wholesale brokerage |
|
firms, we use a range of methodologies. Everything from online |
|
auction systems to fixing and matching session as well as fully |
|
electronic online platforms. But we also use a mix of humans |
|
and electronic systems. And often, that is very effective at |
|
bringing parties together. |
|
Mr. Grimm. That begs the question, if I may, it appears to |
|
me that the CFTC has relied heavily upon the regulations |
|
governing the futures contract in drafting the proposed rules |
|
for the swaps. Are the regulations for the futures industry |
|
appropriate for the swaps industry, and if not, why? |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. There may be some elements of what is--how |
|
regulations work in the futures industry that are appropriate |
|
but many, many other ways they are inappropriate. And in the |
|
proposed regulations, there are a number of areas where the |
|
proposed regs simply just don't apply, just simple things like |
|
referring to products listed on SEFs or members of SEF. These |
|
are concepts that really don't exist in the swaps market. And |
|
yet as we read the proposed rulemaking, these concepts still |
|
come through, and are inappropriate for what takes place in the |
|
swaps market. |
|
Mr. Grimm. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. |
|
If I can switch over to Mr. Donahue. Your testimony |
|
expressed concerns about fragmentation of data. Doesn't the |
|
technology exist already for the regulators to easily |
|
consolidate the data it receives from various swap data |
|
repositories? |
|
Mr. Donahue. Congressman, I would certainly agree it |
|
exists. I don't think I would use the word ``easily.'' You can |
|
consolidate the data. I think our point is the data is already |
|
consolidated. The data has been unified in a swap data |
|
repository. |
|
Having that consolidated view and having the infrastructure |
|
that we have to permit regulators in the market access to that |
|
consolidated view is very, very key to meeting the transparency |
|
goals that the Act has and that Congress had in adopting the |
|
Act. |
|
Trying to--allowing that to fragment and allowing the data |
|
to split out into pieces that get distributed in different |
|
forms in different data vendors and then imposing the |
|
obligation to then reunify that and consolidate that is, we |
|
think, going to be a fairly difficult process, a complex |
|
process, an expensive process and certainly add very |
|
significant time to the market's ability to establish the |
|
transparency that Congress and the regulators want. |
|
Mr. Grimm. One more question, Mr. Donahue, other than the |
|
congressional mandate that trades be reported, explain why we |
|
need repositories please? |
|
Mr. Donahue. Again, the repository gives a consolidated |
|
view of all of the activity within a particular asset class so |
|
that you can see all of the exposures. You know who has what |
|
exposures. You can see information about contracts conducted |
|
globally. This is a global market. |
|
Mr. Grimm. Could I just ask you, why can't the |
|
clearinghouses collect the information since they are the |
|
central nexus for the derivatives and let them send the |
|
information to the SEC and the CFTC? |
|
Mr. Donahue. Your question answers that, okay? The |
|
clearinghouses necessarily will fragment the data and you are |
|
going to be dealing with different groups of data reflecting |
|
different activities, different contracts. |
|
You may see offsetting contracts in different |
|
clearinghouses. You have to bring it together in some place. |
|
You have to aggregate it to see the entire view. That is |
|
precisely what swap data repositories do. Going there and using |
|
that infrastructure from day one we believe is the appropriate |
|
public policy choice. |
|
Mr. Grimm. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. [presiding] The gentleman yields back his |
|
time. The Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from New York for |
|
5 minutes. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you very much, and I thank all the |
|
panelists. On the central repository, in your statement you |
|
said that it should be a utility and could you expand on why |
|
you describe DTCC as--why can't we use it as a for-profit |
|
model? Why should it be a utility? If you could expand? |
|
Mr. Donahue. Congresswoman, I think the crucial point there |
|
is the very, very deep degree of market cooperation and |
|
collaboration that is needed to make a repository work. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Yes. |
|
Mr. Donahue. DTCC is a market-governed utility. We are |
|
operated on a not-for-profit basis. We have a governing board |
|
or a governance committee that has all of the constituencies in |
|
the market involved in the governance. |
|
They view us as a neutral meeting place where they can have |
|
a particular market need addressed in a way that is responsive |
|
to their concerns and meets the needs of the broad range of |
|
market constituencies. That is what a utility or an industry |
|
cooperative does. |
|
That is very, very crucial to getting the level of |
|
cooperation and collaboration that is needed to achieve rapid |
|
implementation of the transparency mechanisms that the |
|
repository provides. So we think getting the kind of market |
|
cooperation both within the United States and also crucially |
|
from overseas is very much facilitated by having a market |
|
utility supporting that function. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. When you mentioned overseas, we are |
|
definitely in a global market, and DTCC just has activities |
|
here in America, correct? |
|
Mr. Donahue. No, we actually have offices both in Asia and |
|
in Europe and we actually have an implementation of our |
|
derivatives support capability in Europe as well as in the |
|
States. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. So that allows you see the entire picture? Is |
|
everything in DTCC internationally and locally? |
|
Mr. Donahue. With respect to credit default swaps the Trade |
|
Information Warehouse is a global infrastructure. It has trade |
|
feeds from 1,800 counterparties in 52 countries around the |
|
world. The reference entities referenced in the warehouse |
|
originate from 90 countries around the world. |
|
The regulator transparency mechanism that we announced this |
|
morning gives information to 19 regulators around the world and |
|
that number will grow. So it is very much a global |
|
infrastructure, and that is very key given the global nature of |
|
the marketplace. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. In your written testimony, you mentioned that |
|
it would be, and I am quoting from it, it would be ``an |
|
exceptionally expensive if not politically impossible task for |
|
regulators to rebuild complex reporting mechanisms.'' Yet there |
|
were several amendments in Dodd-Frank that would have done this |
|
earlier. |
|
Mr. Gensler from CFTC I believe was testifying that he |
|
thought he would build his own clearinghouse. Can you comment |
|
on that? Do you think other repositories are necessary in order |
|
to have all the information to see the exposure, see the risk, |
|
and prevent another catastrophe like we had in 2008? |
|
Mr. Donahue. Our view is very much that you need a |
|
consolidated view per swap asset class. All right? So for |
|
credit default swaps, the trade information provides that. You |
|
would need a consolidated view, a repository for interest rate |
|
swaps, as an example, for over-the-counter equity swaps. |
|
And consolidating all that information into a unified view, |
|
we believe, is very crucial to having the kind of transparency |
|
that the market needs. The CFTC could do that. The regulators |
|
could do that, consolidating information from a variety of |
|
sources. That is a fairly expensive proposition. It is a fairly |
|
time-consuming proposition. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Would it offer more information than what |
|
DTCC now offers-- |
|
Mr. Donahue. It would-- |
|
Mrs. Maloney. --or would it be a duplication? |
|
Mr. Donahue. I think it would be fair to characterize it as |
|
a duplication. We are within weeks of having the Trade |
|
Information Warehouse in a form that is completely compliant |
|
with Dodd-Frank requirements in terms of the breadth of the |
|
data we maintain, the kinds of information, and the kinds of |
|
counterparties we have reflected. |
|
So I don't see that--pushing, that the regulator level |
|
would add anything other than additional expense replicating |
|
what already exists. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. In my opening comments, I talked about the |
|
flash-crash, and how we need to try do everything we can to |
|
prevent it, and I would like to ask the panelists, how do SEFs |
|
prevent events like May 6th, which has been called a flash- |
|
crash or the recent hacking into NASDAQ, which was very |
|
troubling to many of us? How can you minimize or prevent these |
|
type of intrusions or shocks or disruptions to our financial |
|
markets? |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Congresswoman, if I may? |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Sure. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. As I noted in my testimony, we and other |
|
wholesale brokers operate a hybrid model of execution which we |
|
call a melding of man and machine. It is a combination of human |
|
brokers and very sophisticated electronic trading technology. |
|
In that type of environment, the risks of the machines |
|
taking over, if you will, are minimized because the humans are |
|
sitting there side-by-side watching trading activity, and they |
|
are very experienced in the way markets work. It is almost as |
|
if you have a pilot in an airplane; if there is any turbulence, |
|
they could take it back off autopilot, take it back into manual |
|
control. |
|
One of the concerns we have with proposed regulations that |
|
would seek to impose a sort of an electronic model on a |
|
marketplace that right now operates on a hybrid model is that |
|
would exacerbate the risks of an electronic malfunction-- |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Okay. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. --taking the market in a direction that is |
|
unintended. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Yes, just tell me--Mr. Donahue, do you have a |
|
comment? Thank you. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. You can be brief, sir. |
|
Mr. Donahue. Certainly, and I think we--obviously with |
|
respect to the NASDAQ point you make, Congresswoman, we |
|
certainly have taken very serious note of what happened. |
|
Obviously, we don't really understand all the details. |
|
It is something that we are very focused on, and I would |
|
think most market participants are very focused on ensuring |
|
that their systems are safeguarded against some incident like |
|
that, so it is something that gets a lot of focus and a lot of |
|
attention. |
|
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Hensarling. The time of the gentlelady has expired. I |
|
wish to announce to the remaining members that votes are |
|
expected within the next few minutes. We will recognize Mr. |
|
Duffy on the Majority side, and Mr. Perlmutter on the Minority |
|
side. And then, we will have to adjourn the hearing. |
|
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin for 5 |
|
minutes. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, |
|
want to thank the group for coming in and answering our |
|
questions and giving your testimony. You all look nice and |
|
tight together, very nice. We looked like that earlier today. |
|
Specifically, Mr. Reiners, I would like to ask you a few |
|
questions. I am also from Wisconsin, the 7th District. We like |
|
our beer in Wisconsin, and cheap beer or inexpensive beer, I |
|
should say, not cheap. Also, our district is home to |
|
Leinenkugel's, which is a great employer in Chippewa Falls, |
|
Wisconsin, and they make great beer there. |
|
And so I think some questions that are relevant to the |
|
impact of the Dodd-Frank rules and the beer industry. If you |
|
look at the regulations that are about to come down--is it |
|
going to be more expensive for you to enter into derivatives |
|
contracts to hedge your risk? |
|
Mr. Reiners. We do, both vanilla over-the-counter trades. |
|
We do futures trades. We do customized trades as I mentioned in |
|
my testimony. So should there be a change in the margin |
|
requirements for end users that would change the complexion of |
|
our working capital. It would certainly have an impact across- |
|
the-board. |
|
Certainly, commodities are a component of our final price |
|
and how we manage that price. But it is not the only factor |
|
relative to pricing beer. |
|
I have to also speak on behalf of the Coalition that these |
|
margin requirements that were discussed off and on really could |
|
impact capital investment, could impact how your working |
|
capital is employed. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. And with the cost increases, |
|
potentially those would, obviously, be passed on to consumers? |
|
Mr. Reiners. If the marketplace--it would be up to the |
|
marketplace. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Okay. And if they are passed on, |
|
obviously, the cost of our six packs would go up, is it fair to |
|
say? |
|
Mr. Reiners. It would certainly have an impact on the cost |
|
of it, yes. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Okay. I knew that was coming. |
|
Mr. Cawley. Congressman? Excuse me, Congressman? If I could |
|
just go back because-- |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Oh, yes. I am sorry. |
|
Mr. Cawley. --there is one other cost you need to consider |
|
when you are considering the end user away from margin and the |
|
actual processing of a trade. You need to consider the |
|
execution costs as well, and sometimes that can go up and go |
|
down. So one thing I think will be interesting to look at is |
|
when a marketplace becomes more transparent, the execution |
|
costs actually go lower. |
|
There is estimated to be about $50 billion worth of |
|
execution costs, currently, in interest rate swaps in CDS today |
|
on an annual basis. And if you allow central limit order books |
|
and transparency into the marketplace where buyers and sellers |
|
can meet each other directly, those fees should tend to go |
|
down. We estimate that those fees could go down by as much as |
|
$30 billion to $40 billion. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. In regard to the issue of |
|
transparency, I think everyone here would agree that companies |
|
like AIG and all of their contracts we should have more |
|
transparency or could have stopped the crisis that I think AIG |
|
played a big part in. |
|
But is there a concern of, say MillerCoors is entering into |
|
contracts for aluminum, and we talked about the liquidity in |
|
the marketplace with aluminum contracts. If you are entering |
|
into a contract, and it is probably a big contract--does that |
|
have an impact on the market if you are forced to disclose the |
|
contract that you are entering into? Is there a cost component |
|
with the transparency of end users with an over-the-counter |
|
contract? |
|
Mr. Reiners. --in regards to transparency, Congressman, I |
|
think it is really all about the details and the careful |
|
implementation of any new rules. We would, as a beer guy and |
|
someone who actually uses these tools that we are talking |
|
about, the level of confidentiality is certainly critical. |
|
You have kind of touched on that, and I think the rules |
|
would allow for that, but I think the issue of additional |
|
costs, the devil is in the details again. We don't want to add |
|
additional cost to the regulatory system because that does |
|
translate right in to our cost of goods sold. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Okay. And just if I could ask the |
|
panel one other question? If you look at what we are doing here |
|
with our rules, it appears that we are leading the way with |
|
reforming our rules and regulation in regard to derivatives as |
|
opposed to the E.U. and other Asian markets. If this raises the |
|
cost of our contracts--is it possible or feasible that we are |
|
going to see more of our derivatives markets go to places like |
|
Singapore and Hong Kong or others? |
|
Mr. Thompson. We are already hearing from clients, |
|
especially European clients who deal with multiple banks |
|
including our London branch--things like it is not clear to me |
|
whether we will be caught up in Dodd-Frank, but if we deal with |
|
Barclays or Credit Suisse or a European bank, we won't be |
|
subject to this. Why should we take the risk of dealing with |
|
you and having to clear our contracts? |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. So it is-- |
|
Mr. Hensarling. The time of the gentleman has expired. |
|
Mr. Duffy of Wisconsin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. |
|
Mr. Garrett. [presiding] They have just called votes on the |
|
Floor. We should have time to clear the two remaining members' |
|
questions. |
|
The gentleman from Colorado is recognized for 5 minutes. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I just |
|
appreciate the panel being here today waiting through all the |
|
questioning of the three previous witnesses. And I know that I |
|
have had a chance in the first round of Dodd-Frank to talk to |
|
at least the first four of you or your companies, and learned a |
|
lot in that process. Derivatives are something that I never |
|
expected to have to deal with on an ongoing basis as we seem to |
|
be dealing with it, but a couple of points. |
|
I will start with you, Mr. Reiners. We tried in that bill |
|
to limit margins or capital requirements for end users in |
|
connection with their having to deal with future risk, you guys |
|
buying barley on a forward basis or aluminum or whatever it |
|
might be. |
|
Listening to Chairman Gensler, I am comfortable that he got |
|
that as part of the bill. I appreciate your company's caution |
|
that some regulator doesn't get out of hand. And I think you |
|
brought it clearly to my attention, and I will keep an eye on |
|
it. Do you have indications in a rule that they are going to |
|
call and require margin against barley for next year? |
|
Mr. Reiners. No, Congressman. Thanks for the comment. I |
|
heard the same thing from the Honorable Chairman Gensler, and I |
|
had a prior personal discussion with him on this several months |
|
ago, and I heard the same thing here during his testimony. I |
|
have to say though that I think I heard some inconsistencies by |
|
some other participants today that give me pause. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. All right. I appreciate that, and we will |
|
keep an eye out and look to you guys, just something like that |
|
to advising us, so we can be a good oversight committee. |
|
The other thing that I am hearing though from several folks |
|
is that we have to take time in devising and implementing the |
|
rules, and I don't think there is any question about it. But |
|
what is your understanding, Mr. Thompson, as to what the timing |
|
is of the rules from either the SEC or the CFTC? When are they |
|
going to be promulgated? |
|
Mr. Thompson. My understanding of the timing, first, with |
|
respect to the CFTC is they have already put out a draft of |
|
many of the 30 rulemaking work streams that they are charged |
|
with promulgating rules on there. |
|
And my understanding of Mr. Gensler's timetable, based upon |
|
his public statements, is that he intends to have most, if not |
|
all of them, in place by the July 17, 2011, Dodd-Frank Title |
|
VII effectiveness date. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Do you think that date is not a doable |
|
date,? Is it premature? Is that your concern? |
|
Mr. Thompson. I think sticking to that date runs the risk |
|
of serious unintended consequences, in large part, because many |
|
of these issues are complex. One thing the chairman notes is |
|
that he has gotten a tremendous amount of input from the |
|
market. I check the CFTC Web site every day for the comments |
|
that come in, and I don't see how they are keeping up with the |
|
information that is coming back in to them. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Let me stop you right there because we want |
|
to do this right, but there has to be some point where you get |
|
them done. I mean you can always analyze these to the nth |
|
degree. |
|
I would ask that both your company, JPMorgan, which is a |
|
big player, obviously, and SIFMA, which is a major association, |
|
speak on behalf of these agencies, the CFTC and the SEC to the |
|
degree they may need people to get stuff done. And I don't know |
|
how you want to react to that, if you want to react to that or |
|
Mr. Duffy, I know CME has been involved in this. |
|
Mr. Thompson. I will just react by saying both JPMorgan and |
|
SIFMA have actively provided the comment letters to the |
|
agencies on a wide variety of issues where we feel that they |
|
need assistance, technical advice or market-based input. And |
|
again, my concern is that given the sheer volume of information |
|
coming in to them, I am concerned about their ability to-- |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. --get it done? |
|
Mr. Thompson. --take a step back, analyze that, think about |
|
it thoughtfully, and incorporate it into the final rulemaking. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Mr. Duffy? |
|
Mr. Duffy. I will just say really quickly and just add to |
|
what Mr. Thompson said, we have a huge internal legal team |
|
analyzing each and every one of these rules. We have huge |
|
external legal firms working on these rules. We can't keep up |
|
with it. We are kind of perplexed. |
|
How in the world can a couple of Commissioners with a few |
|
staffers and their lawyers actually understand what these rules |
|
mean and what the effects of them could be for this country 6 |
|
months or 6 years down the road? So we do think that the |
|
prudent thing would be to take some time and for people to |
|
understand these in more detail. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. And make sure it is properly staffed. |
|
Mr. Thompson. As an order of magnitude in following up on |
|
Mr. Duffy's comments, Mr. Gensler was describing the size of |
|
his agency as roughly 400-and-some-odd people. At JPMorgan in |
|
New York, we have a team of about 350 people working on various |
|
phases of this. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Okay. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Thompson. It is a monumental undertaking. |
|
Mr. Perlmutter. Thank you very much, and I yield back. |
|
Mr. Garrett. Thank you, and before the gentleman leaves, |
|
actually, we have a little bit more time, so I am going to |
|
yield, split our time-- |
|
Mr. Hensarling. Sure. |
|
Mr. Garrett. --two-and-a-half minutes, Mrs. Biggert?. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. I |
|
have just a couple of quick questions that I would like to ask |
|
Mr. Duffy. The futures exchanges currently employ limits in |
|
most physically-delivered contracts to mitigate potential |
|
congestions and to help identify threats that might to |
|
manipulate the markets. |
|
It seems like there has been a proposal in the President's |
|
recent Executive Order which turns this over to the CFTC. |
|
Wouldn't it be better to learn to leave it back within the |
|
market rather than put another cost to the Federal Government? |
|
Mr. Duffy. I do agree it would be best to leave it with the |
|
exchanges. We have been doing it for a number of years, and we |
|
have done it quite successfully. We have never had a customer |
|
lose one penny due to a clearing member default, and that is a |
|
156-year record that we are very proud of, Congresswoman. |
|
So I think we have done an excellent job of managing risks |
|
when it comes to these types of problems as it relates to the |
|
limits. We have limits on all of our deliverable products, so |
|
we already have the limits put in place today. |
|
When it comes to energy, we have hard limits coming in to |
|
the last 3 days. We have accountability levels 30 days out on |
|
our grain products. They all have government-mandated limits |
|
imposed on them today, so these are things that are already in |
|
place today. |
|
So I am kind of confused on why the regulator is trying to |
|
impose more restrictive limits on the regulated market when |
|
Congress told him to go figure out how to rein in the over-the- |
|
counter market. And once you do that, then make sure you don't |
|
disenfranchise the listed market. So we are very confused on |
|
the process the way it is unfolding-- |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Okay. Thank you. One more quick question, and |
|
that is with the European Union and foreign jurisdictions, if |
|
they adopt a less restrictive regime, and considering what we |
|
talked about, I asked Chairman Gensler earlier this morning |
|
that on the position limits, isn't that going to force |
|
companies to go abroad? |
|
Mr. Duffy. They already have. We talked earlier about |
|
business going abroad. Our natural gas contract at the New York |
|
Mercantile Exchange that we own, once Congress--or once the |
|
rhetoric came out that they are going to impose these very |
|
stringent limits, we saw a big shift of open interest from our |
|
nat gas contracts over to the London nat gas contract. So we |
|
definitely saw that. |
|
Last week or 2 weeks ago, I think it was Michel Barnier or |
|
one of the other European officials came out and said exactly-- |
|
I just met with him in August. |
|
I met with Chairman Gensler and they said that they are |
|
going to be in lockstep with the United States and our |
|
regulations. This was back in August. I asked him when they |
|
passed Dodd-Frank in Europe. They don't have Dodd-Frank in |
|
Europe. |
|
Also, they just came out last week and said they are not |
|
going to impose hard position limits on energy products, but |
|
yet they have the ability to do so. This is exactly what this |
|
Congress told our regulator to do, but our regulator looks at |
|
it in a different light. |
|
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Duffy. Thank you. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Congresswoman, if I could just add on |
|
foreign competition? We are following very closely the |
|
directives coming out of MiFID and others coming out of Europe, |
|
and they don't also adopt the similarly restrictive approach to |
|
modes of execution for SEFs, that is--appear to be coming out |
|
of the CFTC. |
|
And we think that if Europe adopts a more flexible approach |
|
to intermediation by SEFs that business could also go overseas |
|
within that regard as well. |
|
Mr. Garrett. I thank the gentlelady, and we are really--I |
|
am sorry. I am pressed for time here, so I will just throw out |
|
a couple of things to Mr. Giancarlo, with regard to the SEFs, |
|
two quick things. |
|
One is a little bit in the weeds, and it is the difference |
|
in approach with regard to the SEC and the CFTC. The SEC seems |
|
to me a little bit more reasonable as far as it goes. The CFTC |
|
says no, you have to have five quotes. So if you go out to two |
|
car dealers and you get prices, now you have to go out to three |
|
more before we are allowing you to proceed. Can you just |
|
comment on that briefly? |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Yes. |
|
Mr. Garrett. And two, one of my opening lines here was all |
|
that we are doing here is impacting upon jobs and job creation. |
|
Can you just talk with regards to SEFs--how does this--and how |
|
do we quantify any of this as well? |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. Sure, absolutely. The SEC has a long history |
|
of regulating over-the-counter markets, and as we see in their |
|
rulemaking, their approach to regulating the over-the-counter |
|
swaps market appears to adopt a great deal more flexibility in |
|
their approaches. The CFTC does take a more, shall I say, |
|
restrictive or proscriptive approach to the swaps market. It is |
|
actually dictating a whole series of methodologies that |
|
intermediaries need to adopt. |
|
In the RFQ area, you cited one, which is going out to |
|
five--having to receive five quotes, but we see that type of |
|
proscriptiveness running throughout a lot of the CFTC |
|
proposals, less proscriptive at SEC. |
|
And just on the issue of jobs, that is an important issue |
|
for us. Wholesale brokers such as ourselves employ thousands of |
|
Americans in jobs all over the country from places like |
|
Houston, Texas, to southern California, to right in our State, |
|
New Jersey, where we have operations in Englewood, New Jersey, |
|
and also in the New York City area where our industry probably |
|
employs close to 10,000 people. |
|
Their work is what we call the hybrid model where it is a |
|
combination of the human brokers and very, very sophisticated |
|
trading technology, technology that is licensed worldwide. But |
|
it is the combination of the person and the machine that gives |
|
these markets their particular nature. |
|
And what we are worried about is in the very proscriptive |
|
type of rulemaking that would require or force all of this in |
|
to an electronic-only-- |
|
Mr. Garrett. Right. |
|
Mr. Giancarlo. --methodology that it would have a severe |
|
impact on the hiring that we do. |
|
Mr. Garrett. I appreciate that, but I am just getting a |
|
buzz in my other ear that I have to be down on the Floor. We |
|
have to be on the Floor in less than 2 minutes, so I want to |
|
thank the panel for their answers. |
|
I would like to enter in to the record with unanimous |
|
consent, if I may, from the Wall Street Journal, an editorial |
|
dated February 11th, entitled, ``The Futures of America.'' |
|
And I would also like to say that the Chair notes that some |
|
members may have additional questions for this panel which they |
|
may wish to submit in writing. And so without objection, the |
|
hearing record will remain open for 30 days for members to |
|
submit questions to these witnesses and to place their |
|
responses in the record. |
|
And with that being said, this hearing is adjourned. And |
|
again, I thank the members of this panel. |
|
[Whereupon, at 1:45 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] |
|
|
|
|
|
A P P E N D I X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
February 15, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.001 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.278 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.279 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.002 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.003 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.004 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.005 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.006 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.007 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.008 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.009 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.010 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.011 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.012 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.013 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.014 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.015 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.016 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.017 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.018 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.019 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.020 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.021 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.022 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.023 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.024 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.025 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.026 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.027 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.028 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.029 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.030 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.031 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.032 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.033 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.034 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.035 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.036 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.037 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.038 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.039 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.040 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.041 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.042 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.043 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.044 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.045 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.046 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.047 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.048 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.049 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.050 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.051 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.052 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.053 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.054 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.055 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.056 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.057 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.058 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.059 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.060 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.061 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.062 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.063 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.064 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.065 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.066 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.067 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.068 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.069 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.070 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.071 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.072 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.073 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.074 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.075 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.076 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.077 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.078 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.079 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.080 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.081 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.082 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.083 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.084 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.085 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.086 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.087 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.088 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.089 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.090 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.091 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.092 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.093 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.094 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.095 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.096 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.097 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.098 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.099 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.100 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.101 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.102 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.103 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.104 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.105 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.106 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.107 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.108 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.109 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.110 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.111 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.112 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.113 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.114 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.115 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.116 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.117 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.118 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.119 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.120 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.121 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.122 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.123 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.124 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.125 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.126 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.127 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.128 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.129 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.130 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.131 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.132 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.133 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.134 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.135 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.136 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.137 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.138 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.139 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.140 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.141 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.142 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.143 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.144 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.145 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.146 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.147 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.148 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.149 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.150 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.151 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.152 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.153 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.154 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.155 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.156 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.157 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.158 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.159 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.160 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.161 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.162 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.163 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.164 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.165 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.166 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.167 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.168 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.169 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.170 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.171 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.172 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.173 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.174 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.175 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.176 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.177 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.178 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.179 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.180 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.181 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.182 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.183 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.184 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.185 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.186 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.187 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.188 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.189 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.190 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.191 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.192 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.193 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.194 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.195 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.196 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.197 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.198 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.199 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.200 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.201 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.202 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.203 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.204 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.205 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.206 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.207 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.208 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.209 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.210 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.211 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.212 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.213 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.214 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.215 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.216 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.217 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.218 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.219 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.220 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.221 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.222 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.223 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.224 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.225 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.226 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.227 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.228 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.229 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.230 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.231 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.232 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.233 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.234 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.235 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.236 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.237 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.238 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.239 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.240 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.241 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.242 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.243 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.244 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.245 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.246 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.247 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.248 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.249 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.250 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.251 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.252 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.253 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.254 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.255 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.256 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.257 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.258 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.259 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.260 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.261 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.262 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.263 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.264 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.265 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.266 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.267 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.268 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.269 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.270 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.271 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.272 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.273 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.274 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.275 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.276 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.277 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.280 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.281 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.282 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.283 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.284 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.285 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.286 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.287 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.288 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.289 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.290 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.291 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.292 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.293 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.294 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.295 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.296 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.297 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.298 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.299 |
|
|
|
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4554.300 |
|
|
|
|
|
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body></html> |
|
|