Bloomberg View
In Regulating Derivatives, Good Is Good Enough • A Tax-and-Spend Refresher
This article is for subscribers only.
Gary Gensler, the former Goldman Sachs partner now heading the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has never been a dawdler. So it was unnerving to see the CFTC miss a major deadline for its biggest project: redefining derivatives markets to prevent a repeat of 2008-style mayhem.
The CFTC says it now needs until yearend to complete regulations that had been due in mid-July. Outside experts such as Darrell Duffie, a finance professor at Stanford University, think longer delays are likely. Meanwhile, Republican opposition is mounting, as seen by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s recent declaration that “anything we can do to slow down, deter, or impede” the regulators’ agenda would be “good for our country.”