SEC, commodity agency boost ties
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The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they would work more closely to speed approval of new financial products and coordinate fraud investigations.
The SEC polices securities, stock exchanges and public-company disclosures. The CFTC regulates trading of futures and options. The agencies on Tuesday released a memorandum of understanding intended to guide their coordination.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assn., Wall Street’s biggest lobbying group, has called for combining the SEC and CFTC. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. is weighing the proposal, which would require congressional approval.
“Past distinctions between the commodities and securities markets have disappeared,” the industry organization said in a Nov. 21 letter to the Treasury Department.
The “bifurcated structure” of regulation “impedes innovation and creates significant public policy concerns.”
Travis Larson, a spokesman for the trade group, called Tuesday’s announcement an “interesting first step.”
The “real efficiencies will only come with true consolidation,” he said.
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