SECURITIES

Regulator Outlines Risk-Reduction Measures: Attempting to counter a perception that financial derivatives are unregulated, Deputy Treasury Secretary Frank Newman described 80 actions taken to reduce risk in the markets, particularly for the exotic securities. But he reaffirmed that regulators won’t ask Congress to pass broad laws to restrict derivatives dealings. Newman discussed a report by the four major financial regulators on efforts to reduce risk in the markets: the Treasury Department; the Federal Reserve Board and the comptroller of the currency, which are proposing that banks hold more capital to guard against losses from market movements and credit risk, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which monitors the risks securities firms take in their derivatives dealings.