JP Morgan’s commodities chief, Blythe Masters, is now a member of a CFTC advisory committee, according to an announcement made yesterday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Masters has been working in the swaps industry for well over a decade, and helped JP Morgan begin using credit default swaps to hedge bank risks.
She will be taking part in a discussion the CFTC advisory committee will be having next week over the Commission’s cross-border regulation policy.
The policy, which has been bemoaned by both foreign and domestic banks, says that trades made by foreign banks still fall under CFTC rules if U.S.-located personnel arrange, execute or negotiate the transactions.
The CFTC was sued by several banks recently for this policy, and it seems the Commission is now seeking to amend its guidelines.
Masters is joining the CFTC advisory committee just as JP Morgan is selling of its physical commodities business. The reason for the bank’s decision to sell off its multi-billion dollar operation seems to be the amount of headaches many of the new rules have created for banks in recent times.
The CFTCs apparent change of heart over cross-border regulation has come quickly after former chairman Gary Gensler stepped down, and it seems likely that banks will see a softer side of the CFTC over the next few months, and possibly years because of this.