Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has called on the US Congress to award a higher budget to the regulator in order to address staffing issues which the newly installed chairman described as “alarming” with levels at “historic lows”. Gensler appeared before Congress where he laid out his priorities in his new role.
Speaking yesterday (June 2), Gensler, who assumed the chairmanship just six days prior, said the futures regulator was grateful for its increased budget for the fiscal year 2009, when the CFTC was granted a budget of $146m, but he said staffing levels from the increased budget is still only...