Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Steven Lofchie is a Partner based in New York. He advises financial institutions and corporate clients on the securities laws and the Commodity Exchange Act, with particular focus on the regulation of broker-dealers, swap dealers, investment funds and other market intermediaries. Steven's transactional practice focuses on securities credit and derivative transactions.
Recent Articles & Comments
Governor Powell's view seems to echo Peter Wallison's dissenting opinion in the (at page 444). Indeed, a credit to Mr. Wallison, a Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former minority member of the Commission might be in order. In any case, there is no doubt that the change in Administration has resulted in a moderate amount of rethinking of the supposed benefits of Dodd-Frank and prior regulatory policy generally, even by those who were previously complete champions.…
On the one hand, there is a good amount of Dodd-Frank that should be repealed or rolled back, particularly in the commodities world. On the other hand, there is something to be said for avoiding partisan disputes.
The CFTC and the banking industry have long argued that the Basel III capital rules that require banks to reserve against collateral posted to a central clearing agency are mistaken. Governor Powell is coming around belatedly to that view. The existence of central clearing parties does not decentralize risk; it concentrates it. Yet a further risk of clearing emphasized in Governor Powell's remarks is the power that the clearing agencies have to suck tremendous amounts of liquidity…
This is technology expertise that the SEC should consider outsourcing. Perhaps the SEC should call up the credit card companies and ask them for some lessons in catching fraudulent transactions.