SIFMA today released the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., president, after a bi-partisan majority of the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1256, the Swap Jurisdiction Certainty Act. The legislation seeks to address cross-border application of derivatives regulation under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act by requiring coordination in rulemaking between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"We applaud the House for passing this important legislation, and for appropriately recognizing the importance of how derivatives regulations are applied extraterritorially. Derivative markets are global in nature, and as such regulators here and abroad must work together to ensure national rules are consistent and coordinated at a global level. The CFTC and SEC currently approach cross-border application in different ways, which warrants the need for this legislation. This legislation also seeks to establish a mechanism for recognizing similar rules in foreign jurisdictions with broadly equivalent regimes for swaps, to help address the concerns expressed by numerous foreign regulators. We urge the Senate to take up this legislation quickly."