Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, urged the CFTC this week to begin investigating the offshore actions of Wall Street banks in avoiding certain mandates set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act. In a letter to Timothy Massad, the CFTC’s recently-confirmed chairman, Representative Waters criticized the removal by banks of parent guarantees from overseas affiliates, which allows banks to trade in the interdealer market while skirting Dodd-Frank restrictions aimed at increasing price competition and transparency. By cutting off these guarantees, banks are able to trade in the United States through swap execution facilities established under Dodd-Frank, while their non-guaranteed subsidiaries are subject only to local laws of foreign jurisdictions.

Rep. Waters also sent letters to the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. In these correspondences, Rep. Waters reiterated that the CFTC should take a more aggressive stance in reviewing changes to the guarantees.