Regulatory issues are all the rage today in Weston, Florida, at the 27th Annual Options Industry Conference. At a press breakfast this morning, Chicago Board Options Exchange Chairman Bill Brodsky discussed the changing of the guard at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He called new SEC chair Mary Schapiro “as well qualified as anyone in recent history” and said the SEC “has a really good cadre of commissioners.” Meanwhile, confirmation for President Obama’s nomination to head the CFTC, Gary Gensler, is being held up by various political stalemates in the Senate. Brodsky said he “doesn’t know whether [Gensler] will make it” but hopes to see him get the job.
Brodsky also discussed another regulatory hot button issue, the SEC’s newest proposals to restrict short selling. Brodsky stressed the need for the SEC to allow an exemption for market makers. Not having an exemption would create a “draconian situation,” he said. He seemed optimistic that the SEC commissioners are open to industry comments and suggestions about the exemption. He called the short sale rule “the most important issue facing the options industry in the United States.”
In an address at the conference this morning, Elizabeth King, associate director of trading and markets at the SEC, was asked about the direction of the market maker exemption. “I don’t know what the likelihood is. I think it’s important that those of you here who are knowledgeable about the options business…comment on this proposal,” she said. There will be an SEC roundtable to discuss the rules on May 5, and the comment period will last through June.
Tags: Bill Brodsky, CBOE, CFTC, Gary Gensler, SEC
