The Doctor Will See You Now

Since last April, when the Treasury released its proposed blueprint, the scalpel of reform has been poised over the corpus of securities regulation. At first blush it looked like the CFTC had caught something very serious, but now it appears to be on the mend and it’s the SEC that needs medical attention.

I did a survey of recent legislation to see what Dr. Congress thinks is wrong with our patient. I found no brave new reform proposals – the fixes coming from Congress are strictly of the tweaks and Band-aids variety.

You’ve overdosed on over-the-counter derivatives:
* HR 977 – Bringing greater transparency to commodity markets.
* S 3714 – Ensuring that all commodity transactions are carried out on regulated exchanges.
* S 3691 – Requiring reporting and record keeping for credit default swaps
* HR 6976 – Bringing greater transparency and accountability to commodity markets
* HR 6921 – Providing oversight and transparency of the commodity futures markets

Register those hedge funds and call me in the morning:
* S 3739 – Addressing the regulation of derivatives and unregistered hedge funds
* HR 7266 – Enhancing oversight for certain derivatives and hedge fund dealers
* HR 5712 – Registering hedge fund advisers under the investment co act

Speculation! Worst case I’ve ever seen.
* S 447 – To prevent excessive price speculation with respect to energy commodities
* S 3255 – To provide oversight of large trades of over-the-counter energy and agriculture contracts and prevent price manipulation and speculation

Oh sorry, that’s my sponge:
* HR 384 – Reforming the Troubled Asset Relief Program
* HR 7305 – Terminating the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase troubled assets
* S 400 – Expanding the authority of the TARP oversight panel
* S 383 – Amending EESA to increase the authority of the inspector general

Band-aids are so underrated!
* HR 281 – Making SEC filings available on company websites
* HR 6482 – Directing the SEC to decide which asset-backed deals are eligible for credit ratings
* HR 607 – Directing the SEC to issue guidance on fair value accounting
* HR 302 – Requiring the SEC to reinstate the uptick rule
* HR 885 – Enhancing the legal authority of agency inspectors general