Here are the key points in the Barnier statement:

"I intend to propose shortly that the European Commission adopt 'equivalence' decisions that will allow CCPs from five countries outside the EU – Japan, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong and India – to clear EU derivatives trades. This will be done in full deference to the rules and supervisory systems of those countries. . . . If the CFTC also gives effective equivalence to third country CCPs, deferring to strong and…

Chair White continues a reasonable and measured approach as she orders an agency review of the markets after the publicity frenzy over Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. With regard to the direction of the SEC's review of the equity markets, it will be interesting to see the biases between exchange trading and other forms of intermediation. As to trading in the fixed income markets, it seems likely that very significant additional regulation is on the horizon. Financial regulatory…

This is the first no-action letter that the CFTC issued with regard to CPO delegations under the streamlined approach of CFTC Letter 14-69. CFTC Letter 14-71 was issued swiftly under the streamlined approach of CFTC Letter 14-69, which was issued only seven days ago (on May 12). Given the number of CPO delegation request letters that the CFTC is likely to receive in the near future, the CFTC may find it difficult to maintain that turnaround time. Further, the CFTC response letter was brief,…

Chair Wetjen was forthright as to why the CFTC's budget needs have expanded substantially:

"The notional value of derivatives centrally cleared by clearing houses was $124 trillion in 2010 (according to ISDA data), and is now approximately $223 trillion (according to CFTC data from swap data repositories ('SDRs')). That is nearly a 100 percent increase. The expanded use of clearinghouses is significant in this context because, among other things, it means that the Commission must…