Amendments to regulations that have held back the growth of single stock futures (SSFs) could soon materialise, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Jim Newsome.
Newsome told the Senate agriculture committee last week that he is in talks with officials from Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which shares regulatory responsibility for SSFs.
Newsome said SSFs "have not been as successful as some had predicted" and that this was "due in part to the lack of a risk-based portfolio margining regime for [SSFs] similar to that used in other futures markets". He expressed hope that agreement on this and other issues could be reached with SEC "in the near future".
Both US SSF exchanges welcomed the comments.Bill Rainer, chairman and ceo of OneChicago and a former CFTC...