After the Department of Justice (DoJ) released its comment letter last week on the regulatory structure associated with financial institutions advocating the changing of regulatory policy “so as to foster exchange competition by, inter alia, ending exchange control of clearing,” we decided to ask a few trading experts what, if anything, they would like to see change in the clearing structures at CME Group or any other exchange. Based on its comment letter, the DoJ “doesn’t have a good handle on how the markets work,” says Phil Flynn, VP and senior market analyst at Alaron. The breakup of clearing from the exchanges “would hurt the U.S. markets” and make it easier for foreign competition, Flynn says. “There’s no need to break up the CME Group” from its clearing, Flynn says, adding that he thinks the clearing structure at CME works well in its current state. “They’ve been clearing trades successfully for over 100 years,” and there’s no need to change that, he says. For more on the DoJ’s comment letter and reaction from various industry players, see the March issue of Futures magazine.