Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week tried to set market participants' minds at rest as it tackled the increasingly complex question regarding the regulation of foreign boards of trade. However, observers suggested that an industry hearing, held by the commission on 27 June, could still lead to a change in the way it handles no-action letters in the future.
The hearing, at which all the major exchanges as well as industry groups and regulators from the US and Europe were represented, addressed the dilemma of what makes an exchange foreign or domestic as well as possible solutions to the question of granting no-action relief letters to foreign exchanges in the US.
In his introductory remarks, CFTC chairman Reuben Jeffery assured participants that the commission was committed to "a competitive level playing field," adding that it "supports both technological advances and globalisation, and...