Giancarlo Suggests Overhaul of CFTC

President Trump’s nominee for the permanent head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”), J. Christopher Giancarlo, is a Republican and acting head  of the CFTC.  In a well-received and widely reported speech yesterday to an industry conference, Mr. Giancarlo said he would fix the “flawed” swaps trading rules.  He also pledged to streamline the CFTC rules, and said the CFTC’s review of its rules in response to Mr. Trump’s executive order – even though the order does not apply to the CFTC as an independent agency – would soon be released.  He also said he would move the market surveillance unit to the CFTC’s enforcement division and name a new head to oversee the unit.   And he said he would use his position on the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which among other things determines whether financial institutions are systemically important to the economy, much more vigorously.  Mr. Giancarlo, who became a CFTC commissioner two years ago, has been critical of the Dodd-Frank law and its implementation by the CFTC as being too complicated and burdensome on the industry.