While at the Futures Industry Association’s annual meeting last week, CFTC commissioner Scott O’Malia says that any split between foreign and US traders  in the OTC market is unwanted, and if a split has happened, then it should be blamed on regulators.

In a study done by the ISDA, Cross-Border Fragmentation of Global OTC Derivatives: An Empirical Analysis, it was found that the trade volume between Europe and the US in the OTC market dropped 77% in October, after swap execution facility (SEF) trading went into effect. Trade volumes remained low through the end of the year.

During the same time, OTC market trade volume between European traders rose significantly, seeming to point to an obvious correlation between US SEF trading and Europe’s declining interest in trading with the US.

Even with this study however, O’Malia stated that he is yet to see convincing evidence that European traders aren’t doing business with US firms specifically to avoid the clearing and execution rules that the US currently has to comply to. He did admit that there is a lot of uncertainty in the market right now however, and that this needs to be addressed.

O’Malia mentioned that the dip in cross borer trading in the OTC market could be due to European firms waiting for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MFID) to be revised. It’s believed that the revisions to MFID will put European trading firms in compliance with CFTC rules. These firms may be waiting for this rather than changing their current practices to match the CFTC’s.