According to The Financial Times, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler is refusing to budge on the deadline for the next phase of trading rules.
The next set of rules, which will require the reporting of transactions with offshore entities, will go into effect on October 9th. Many feel these rules will affect trading venues in Europe, regardless of their own country’s regulations.
Gensler’s apparently unyielding stance on deadlines, despite continuous complaints and requests for delays is impressive considering not only that he will be stepping down as Chairman within the month, but that he is going forward with these deadlines in the midst of a government shutdown.
The shutdown, which took effect on October 1st, has hit the CFTC significantly harder than any other financial regulator. While the SEC will be able to continue operating normally for a few weeks thanks to a surplus in unused funds, the CFTC , which Gensler has stated as being significantly underfunded, has no such surplus, and is now running with less than 30 of its 600 standard employees.
Perhaps Gensler has reason to feel confident. While the deadline for the CFTC’s last set of rules took affect one day after the government shutdown, many derivatives market traders have stated that the transition actually went rather smoothly.
