House lawmakers vote today on legislation that would curb the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority to oversee the $633 trillion global swaps market, Bloomberg News reported. The vote takes place as a majority of CFTC commissioners have signaled they want to delay final action on how new derivatives rules apply to foreign banks and the overseas affiliates of U.S. banks and hedge funds. Chairman Gary Gensler insists the agency should take its final vote on the guidance by July 12, when the current deadline expires. The CFTC will decide how to press forward after the Securities and Exchange Commission last month outlined a different approach to regulating swaps that it oversees, which hews closer to industry viewpoints. The House bill would exempt foreign banks from CFTC rules if their home countries have broadly similar regulations and would force the CFTC and SEC to reconcile their approaches.
