It remains unclear what the SEC and CFTC will end up doing to coordinate their regulatory efforts now that both appear safe from being abolished, but know this: whatever they do will be "
harmonious."
In response to a June 17, 2009, White Paper from the White House that called on the SEC and CFTC to "
harmonize regulation of futures and securities," the two regulators issued a press release today ("SEC, CFTC to Hold Joint Meetings on Regulation
Harmonization") stating that they will soon "hold joint meetings to seek input from the public on
harmonization of market regulation."
Both agencies then took turns seeing how many times they could additionally use some form of the root word "harmony" in their brief statements:
"These joint meetings will build on the progress the CFTC and SEC have made on designing a framework to regulate OTC derivatives. It will move us further down the road of harmonizing our regulations to increase transparency, reduce regulatory arbitrage and rebuild confidence in our markets," said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro.
"I look forward to working with Chairman Schapiro and hearing from market experts and participants on how to most effectively harmonize our regulatory systems," said CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler. "Harmonizing our regulatory policies will improve market integrity by applying consistent standards to market participants. There are three areas where this review will most benefit the American public: to address gaps between the two agencies' financial regulatory authorities, to assess the effects of regulatory overlap and to bring appropriate consistency to the two agencies' regulation over similar products, practices and markets."
In the meantime, I'm probably now stuck with this song in my head for the rest of the morning: