ISDA and the U.S. Chamber's Center for Capital Markets
Competitiveness ("CCMC") advocated for harmonizing the CFTC and SEC
derivatives regulatory frameworks through a regulatory "safe
harbor" mechanism.
In a white paper, the authors argued that there is
"considerable discord" between the CFTC rules governing
"swaps" and the SEC rules (some proposed, some final)
governing "security-based swaps." The organizations
contend that such discord will be apparent when the SEC rules
become effective and would result from unnecessary costs on dually
registered firms attempting to comply with similar but different
rules for products that often are substantially identical. The
authors argue that a rule-by-rule gap analysis and harmonization
effort would be "costly and likely take years to
complete," and that instead, the SEC and CFTC should provide
"safe harbor" exemptive orders to provide that
CFTC-registered firms could apply CFTC rules to security-based
swaps and
