CFTC committee takes up problem of futures commission merchants, position limits
November 02, 2015 |01:13 PM
From left, Tim Barry of U.S. ICE Futures, Tim Andriesen of the CME Group, and Layne Carlson of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange update the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and its Agriculture Advisory Committee on market developments at a meeting on September 22. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
In addition to hearing a presentation about ICE’s World Cotton contract, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Agriculture Advisory Committee on September 22 also heard presentations on the problem of the declining number of futures commission merchants and on position limits.
CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad, who chaired the meeting, noted that the number of futures commission merchants (FCMs) has declined over the past 10 years, resulting in more concentration in that business, even though the overall volumes in the derivatives markets have increased.
“It’s very important that we have a robust FCM industry,” Massad said. “It’s very important that all customers — particularly smaller ones — are able to access the markets effectively and efficiently.”
Massad also said he is open to considering changes to the position limit rules issued in 2013 to allow the exchanges to grant non-enumerated hedge exemptions and streamlining the changes to the process for waiving aggregation requirements.
