Rep. Frank Blasts Bills to Blunt Law on Derivatives
Special to CNBC.com
House Republican attempts to blunt Dodd-Frank's regulatory requirements on derivatives would remove transparency and "allow these prices to continue to be secret," Rep. Barney Frank told CNBC Thursday.
The Dodd-Frank financial services overhaul law he co-sponsored requires, among other things, that prices on traded derivatives be made public. "That’s been the law since we passed it," he said. "They would allow these prices to continue to be secret."
The Republican-led House passed two measures on derivatives. Onewould exempt inter-affiliate swaps, or the exchange of risk through financial derivatives within parts of a company. Under a second, these swaps would still have to be reported but margin, capital and real-time reporting requirements would not have to be followed. The bills now go before the Democrat-led Senate.
"The lack of transparency on derivatives would be a step backwards," Frank said. "There's a notion that the more we regulate, the worse off we'll be. I think it's the less we regulate."
He said he "wouldn't go as far as" JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon who, in his annual letter to investors, said the Dodd-Frank's cap on debit card fees are a form of price-fixing that will leave people without access to debit cards. People go to banks and credit unions for more than debit cards, Frank said.
Frank said he was against the fee cap, which came out of the Senate and is known as the Durbin amendment. "Unfortunately, that was the only way to get the bill through... I’m afraid the cap is here to stay."
