Giancarlo

The $8 billion swap dealer de minimis threshold adopted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) five years ago will remain in place until at least the end of 2019, following a CFTC vote Thursday.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo said Wednesday he will request the regulatory agency postpone a decision on the de minimis threshold by a year, effectively delaying implementation until the end of 2018.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will pursue a reform of swaps trading rules “to fix flawed implementation of regulatory reform,” Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo told a global forum for derivatives markets in Switzerland last week.

Two federal regulatory agencies key to the natural gas and oil industry, FERC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), are seeking double-digit percentage increases to their appropriations in the Trump administration’s $4.1 trillion budget proposal.

President Trump intends to nominate Brian Quintenz, a former head of a Washington-based investment firm, to be a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for the remainder of a five-year term expiring April 13, 2020, the White House said Friday.

Commodities and securities regulation under the Trump administration will be more open to market participants with less “gotcha stuff” to trip them up, speakers at a Houston conference heard last week.

J. Christopher Giancarlo, Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will be nominated to serve as chairman, the White House said Tuesday, and he quickly laid out his plans for a “new agenda” at the regulatory agency.

Within minutes of President Trump taking the oath of office Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo had been designated as acting chairman of the regulatory agency. Giancarlo succeeded Timothy Massad, who earlier this monthtendered his resignation to then-President Obama, effective Jan. 20. At the time, CFTC said Massad would remain a commissioner at CFTC “for a few weeks in order to close out his office and handle administrative matters.” Giancarlo, a Republican and frequent critic of CFTC decisions under Massad, was a brokerage firm executive before being appointed to CFTC in 2014. Massad’s resignation will leave only two commissioners at CFTC — Giancarlo and Sharon Bowen, a Democrat confirmed in 2014 — which could create a logjam, since there would not be enough commissioners to constitute a quorum. There can be as many as five CFTC commissioners, with no more than three from any political party serving simultaneously, so — assuming Giancarlo and Bowen stay on board — Trump could nominate as many as two more Republicans and one Democrat to fill the vacant seats.

Within minutes of President Trump taking the oath of office Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo had been designated as acting chairman of the regulatory agency. Giancarlo succeeded Timothy Massad, who earlier this monthtendered his resignation to then-President Obama, effective Jan. 20. At the time, CFTC said Massad would remain a commissioner at CFTC “for a few weeks in order to close out his office and handle administrative matters.” Giancarlo, a Republican and frequent critic of CFTC decisions under Massad, was a brokerage firm executive before being appointed to CFTC in 2014. Massad’s resignation will leave only two commissioners at CFTC — Giancarlo and Sharon Bowen, a Democrat confirmed in 2014 — which could create a logjam, since there would not be enough commissioners to constitute a quorum. There can be as many as five CFTC commissioners, with no more than three from any political party serving simultaneously, so — assuming Giancarlo and Bowen stay on board — Trump could nominate as many as two more Republicans and one Democrat to fill the vacant seats.