European Commissioner's "Invitation" to CFTC Chairman to Extend the CFTC Exemptive Order on Cross-Border Swaps Regulation (with Lofchie Comment)

The European Commission provided an "invitation" to the CFTC as to the extension of the CFTC's "Exemptive Order" (on the cross-border application of swap regulation) in Dodd-Frank. The invitation goes on to urge the CFTC to extend this "Exemptive Order" until international principles on cross-border swap rules have been agreed upon and implemented.

Lofchie Comment: The use of the word "invitation" in the heading of the letter is really an intriguing word choice. One can imagine that the European regulators found the word "demand" too harsh and the word "request" too soft. "Suggestion" would have been a possibility, but perhaps that also seemed too soft. Although the word "invitation" seems somewhat eccentric, it has a connotation of providing a place to go, in this case perhaps a means of exit from an untenable position.It is also interesting that the letter to CFTC Chairman Gensler does not use the Chairman's name in the "dear" line of the letter, but instead simply addresses the letter to the Chairman. This seems not to be merely a matter of the ordinary form, as a prior letter to Chairman Gensler did use the Chairman's name. (See the prior letter, dated Oct. 2012, letter on the same subject, which is linked in the box below.) Also, the address line in the prior letter referred to "Hon. Gary Gensler," whereas in this letter, it merely references "Mr. Gary Gensler."

See: Invitation letter.See, for comparison, prior letter: Oct. 2012 Letter.