SEC, CFTC Announce Creation Of Joint CFTC-SEC Advisory Committee On Emerging Regulatory Issues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-75

Washington, D.C., May 11, 2010 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler today announced the formation of a joint committee that will address emerging regulatory issues. The establishment of the Joint CFTC-SEC Advisory Committee on Emerging Regulatory Issues was one of the 20 recommendations included in the agencies' harmonization report issued last year.


Additional Materials


The joint committee will develop recommendations on emerging and ongoing issues relating to both agencies. The first item on the committee's agenda is conducting a review of last Thursday's market events and making recommendations related to market structure issues that may have contributed to the volatility, as well as disparate trading conventions and rules across various markets.

To orient the Committee's work, the staff of the SEC and CFTC will provide to the Committee on Monday their joint preliminary findings regarding last Thursday's market events.

"As last week's events remind us, our markets are increasingly interrelated and interdependent so we need to appreciate how events in one arena can potentially impact investors and markets elsewhere," said Chairman Schapiro. "The Joint Committee will serve an essential role in addressing that challenge."

"It is important that we hear from this prominent panel of market practitioners, academics and former regulators about emerging risks in our markets," Chairman Gensler said. "It is critical that the CFTC and SEC hear from the panel together because our markets are so intertwined. I am particularly interested in the Committee's first focus: advising on courses of action in response to the lessons learned from the market events of May 6."

The Committee's charter provides for a broad scope of interest, including:

  1. Identifying of emerging regulatory risks.
  2. Assessing and quantifying of the impact of such risks and their implications for investors and market participants.
  3. Furthering the SEC's and CFTC's efforts on regulatory harmonization.

Chairman Schapiro and Chairman Gensler will serve as co-chairs of the Joint Committee.

Members of the Joint Committee include (additional members to join in coming days):

# # #