News Article Intercontinentalexchange Inc said on Thursday it withdrew an application to register its credit default swaps trading as a derivatives clearinghouse with the CFTC because of "the significant changes proposed to the commission regulations," a company spokesman said. The withdrawal comes a week after the CFTC proposed a rule that addresses part of the law requiring clearinghouses to have strong risk management standards and provide "fair and open access" to potential members. Gary Gensler, chairman of the agency, has in the past complained that swaps clearinghouses acted like

News Article As the GOP prepares to seize control of the House in January, its members on the Financial Services Committee are vowing to reexamine the wide-ranging financial regulatory legislation passed earlier this year. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the incoming committee chairman, said in an interview that Republicans want to revisit provisions that would require companies that use derivatives merely to hedge risks - such as an airline guarding against swings in fuel prices - to set aside more capital for those deals. Bachus said such "end users" did not contribute to the financial crisis

Commentary Analyzing Basel Committee on Banking Regulation's treatment of exposures to central counterparties, Professor Craig Pirrong observes that while CCPs went through the recent crisis relatively unscathed, relying on that historical fact to justify the expansion of CCPs, and implementing incentives to encourage that growth means that "the new CCPs will not be your grandfather's CCPs. They will be different-and far riskier. The incentive system will encourage the shifting of more risk, and more exotic and difficult to measure and manage risks onto CCPs." Contrary to the view of the CFTC

News Article U.S. financial regulators, struggling for months with budgets unequipped to handle new responsibilities imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act, will be forced to go another 10 weeks without a funding increase. Federal lawmakers agreed yesterday to fund the government at current levels through March 4, denying budget increases sought by the SEC and CFTC after the regulatory overhaul was enacted. Agreement on the stopgap funding measure came hours before the expiration of an earlier temporary spending bill. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has been lobbying lawmakers for the additional money

SEC Release The SEC voted to propose a rule, as required by Dodd-Frank, to govern the registration process for municipal advisors. The rule would supplant a temporary rule adopted by the SEC in September. Document Number SEC Release 34-63576 Date December 20, 2010 Cross Reference (links require a Cabinet subscription) SEC Press Release 2010-253 SEC Release 34-62824 (Temporary registration rule)