CFTC Acting Chair Pham Touts Enforcement Results and Cost Savings
As she prepares to return to the private sector, CFTC Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham highlighted enforcement results, regulatory reforms and cost savings achieved within the first 100 days of the new administration.
At an ISDA Annual Meeting, Ms. Pham said that the Division of Enforcement ("DOE") resolved approximately 50% of its open enforcement docket, encompassing several hundred matters. This included more than a dozen cases that had been open for over 15 years and over three dozen open for more than 10 years. Ms. Pham stated that addressing this backlog will allow DOE to "refocus its resources on catching fraudsters and scammers and helping victims." Ms. Pham also described a 30-day "enforcement sprint" aimed at resolving outstanding investigations and compliance matters that did not involve customer harm or market abuse. She explained that these resolutions apply a new advisory framework and feature civil monetary penalties that represent "a fraction" of previous DOE demands. Ms. Pham also touted the first-ever matrix for mitigation credit as part of a broader advisory on self-reporting. She said the framework gives regulated entities fair notice of how credit will be applied in enforcement matters. (See related coverage.)
Ms. Pham said the agency undertook a comprehensive organizational optimization which included updating performance metrics. She also said the CFTC reestablished clarity in regulatory interpretations listing no-action and interpretive letters taken with regard to swaps markets, reducing regulatory burdens and encouraging engagement with digital assets.
Ms. Pham also said that the CFTC’s Division of Administration reviewed agency contracts and procurement, which resulted in savings of "nearly $20 million dollars without compromising CFTC operations or services." She said that "on an annualized basis, after including other reductions to costs including leasing, the CFTC is on track to save about $50 million dollars. ... a cost savings of roughly 14% of the CFTC’s appropriated budget, which was $365 million dollars for fiscal year (FY) 2025."