"Congress acted decisively to streamline regulation, foster innovation and ensure that our markets continue to provide reliable price discovery and innovative risk management solutions for our global customers. This is a good day for our nation’s futures markets and their customers.
"The House and Senate have given bipartisan approval to consensus legislation; the President’s signature will complete the long process of achieving futures law reform.
"By repealing the 18-year barrier to competition known as the Shad-Johnson accord, Congress permits U.S. futures markets to compete with foreign markets on the new frontier of the investment world--single-stock futures. We are particularly pleased that, for the first time, the enormous sales force comprised of broker-dealers and registered representatives will have the opportunity to offer their clients certain futures products traded on our exchanges. The bill permits those financial professionals to cross-register to offer single-stock futures at U.S. futures exchanges, by means of a simple filing.
"We expect that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which led the way in regulatory reform, will revise its recently adopted New Regulatory Framework to seamlessly integrate its reforms with the measures adopted by Congress.
"This historic, salutary outcome is the result of months of hard work and negotiations by congressional leaders, representatives of the administration, and the regulators of the financial services industry. We compliment them for their unflagging commitment."
The legislation modernizes the laws governing futures exchanges, provides legal certainty to over-the-counter transactions, provides legal certainty for banks, and lifts the ban on single stock futures. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate today passed the bill as an attachment to an omnibus appropriations bill. The bill now goes to the President for his signature.
