The Futures Industry Association has urged the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to withdraw its proposal to introduce position limits on US energy derivatives trading.
In a 30 page letter to David Starwick, secretary of the CFTC, John Damgard, president of the FIA, called on the US futures regulator to “defer any further action on its proposals until Congress completes its deliberations this session on financial regulatory reform legislation” which may authorise the watchdog to impose position limits. Damgard said it was “premature” to press ahead without waiting for Congress’s view.
The FIA is the first major industry body to come out and publicly declare its opposition to the CFTC’s position limit plans. Damgard said that while the FIA opposed market manipulation, he concluded: “based on our analysis, the proposed rules would harm these public interests...