Timothy Massad Highlights Automated Trading and Data Reporting at the Technology Advisory Committee Meeting

Timothy Massad, Chairman of the CFTC recently spoke at the agency’s Technology Advisory Committee Meeting on February 23rd, 2016. In his opening statement, he highlighted the committee’s focus addressing on automated trading in financial markets. Acknowledging the benefits of efficiency in execution, smaller spreads, and increased transparency, Chairman Massad stated that the growing use of this type of trading necessitates regulatory and supervisory discussions.

He also made note of other areas the agency will turn its attention to in the near future, including:

• Improving quality of swap data reporting, a key goal of the G20 and the Dodd-Frank Act
• How swap data repositories (SDRs) report and handle information imparted to them
• Standardization and clarification of data reporting rules
• Application of blockchain technology to the derivatives markets

Despite recent progress in regulatory standardization and the growing acceptance of the post-financial crisis regulatory framework, the Chairman’s statement indicates derivatives regulation is still very much a work in progress.

Read his full statement here.