The Sun Never Sets on Dodd-Frank; The Moons Rise up in Revolt

Lofchie Comment on Responses to the CFTC's ET Guidance: I had recently published a memo pointing out a variety of ways in which I believed the reach of Dodd-Frank (Title VII in particular) was either overbroad in its application to non-U.S. entities or discriminatory as to the treatment of non-U.S. entities in ways that I thought were not likely to be acceptable. Today, we publish in the news a summary of various comments as to the CFTC's proposed guidance on the reach of Dodd-Frank outside the United States. The comments from foreign governments are uniformly critical.When other responsible regulators from Europe, Asia and the Americas are so uniformly critical of our regulatory direction, it behooves the United States to pay attention. It is simply not practical to believe that we can force discriminatory and over-reaching regulatory requirements on so many of our allies without their responding in kind.What is worse is that this is not simply an issue of extraterritoriality. We are embarking on a system of financial regulation which I believe has significant risks and uncertainties. If we were prudent, I think we would review the comments from non-U.S. regulators, not only with an ear to what they are saying about the application of Dodd-Frank outside the United States, but also as to its application at home.I note further critical comments from trade associations, professional associations, non-U.S. exchanges and market participants. There is more going on here than regulated entities' making a routine protest against being regulated.