CFTC to consider limits at Oct 18 meeting

WASHINGTON: The US futures regulator, behind schedule on completing new financial reform measures, is expected to vote on Oct. 18 on a measure that would crack down on excessive commodity market speculation.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission had been expected to vote on the measure at its Oct. 4 meeting.

CFTC sources said the long-awaited position limits plan, which would limit the number of commodity futures, options and swaps contracts a speculative trader can hold, was delayed to give the agency more time to work on the rule.

Last week, Reuters obtained a draft final rule that showed futures regulators were yielding to banks and other major traders of commodities on several key provisions in a plan to crack down on speculation, but are holding their ground on the need to forge ahead with position limits.

The CFTC has laid out an aggressive schedule to complete a regulatory framework for the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market required under last year's Dodd-Frank law.

The regulator has finalized nearly a dozen rules, but most of the high-profile and controversial rules remain including end-user exception, capital and margin requirements, and position limits.

Gary Gensler, the chairman of the CFTC, recently outlined a timetable for the rules he expects the agency to consider in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

Copyright Reuters, 2011