BANKING & FINANCE - Sept. 12, 1996

Treasury Issues Rules on Large Debt Positions: In an effort to combat manipulation in the $3.4-trillion government debt market, officials have unveiled a plan that would require firms controlling $2 billion or more of a particular federal debt issue to keep records and file reports on their positions. The plan, which won’t take effect for six months, was ordered by Congress in response to “squeezes” in Treasury notes in 1991 in which some Wall Street participants accumulated large positions of single Treasury issues. The rules will apply to participants in both the cash market and financing markets.