An irreverent Wall Street Blog
by Bill Singer
by Bill Singer
Professor Ronald Filler Discusses CFTC, GMAC, Dodd Frank, And Swaps Regulation With Bill Singer
February 12, 2013
Last year, Professor Ronald H. Filler was the moderator of a Museum of the City of New York panel on "Can Wall Street Reinvent Itself." In addition to me, the other panelists were
- Joshua Brown, frequent CNBC commentator, the Forbes "Freestyle"columnist, author of Wall Street's popular "The Reformed Broker" blog, vice president of investments at Fusion Analytics, and author of "Backstage Wall Street" (McGraw-Hill, 2012); and
- Heidi N. Moore, the Guardian's US finance and economics editor; and formerly, New York bureau chief and Wall Street correspondent for American Public Media's "Marketplace."
Ronald H. Filler is an expert in the area of financial services law. He joined New York Law School as Professor of Law and Director of the School's newest academic center, the Center on Financial Services Law. Among the courses that Ron teaches are: Derivatives Market Regulation, Special Topics in Corporate Law: Financial Services Seminar and Workshop, and Special Topics in Corporate Law: Regulation of Brokers/Dealers and Futures Commissions Merchants.
But Ron is not merely some career academic unfamiliar with the realities of the biz. Previously, he was the Managing Director in the Capital Markets Prime Services Division at Lehman Brothers. Now there's a professor who has the scars on his back from the real world. Talk about having been there and done that!
Ron has spoken at hundreds of industry conferences and seminars during his more than 30 years in the futures and derivatives legal fields and has taught several different courses as an adjunct professor of law at four U.S. law schools, including New York Law School, the University of Illinois, Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Brooklyn Law School. He founded the Commodities Law Institute at Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1978, and this institute became the futures industry's leading academic law program through 1995.
Professor Filler has served on numerous industry boards and advisory committees during his career and, most recently, as a member of NYSE LIFFE US, the National Futures Association, CFTC Global Markets Advisory Committee, the CME Clearing House Risk Operating Committee, The Clearing Corporation Board of Directors, the FIA Board of Directors, and the FIA Law and Compliance Division Executive Committee.
During our recent on-camera interview for "Side Bar With Bill Singer," Ron and I discussed the growing dispute over whether the United States should lead the world in instituting meaningful regulatory reforms -- or whether it's time for us to recognize our role as merely one of several horses pulling the coach. In particular, we focused on Dodd Frank's recent mandate to the CFTC to regulate swaps.
In recent months there have been growing cries from Europe and Asia that the United States still thinks it's the Wild West and we're the only law in town. Politicians, entrepreneurs, and regulators in foreign jurisdictions want us to slow down, to work with them, to accept that it's a global market. Some folks say times have changed and we need to adopt and adapt more. Others say that the chorus of caution is little more than a dangerous attempt to derail market reforms and to exalt no regulation or ineffective regulation. And while there's a lot of back and forth and tugging and pulling, the threat of unregulated swaps is still there.
Watch on Reuters Insider the pilot episodes of "SIDE BAR WITH BILL SINGER." Veteran Wall Street regulatory lawyer Bill Singer hosts three episodes of this new program.
SIDE BAR WITH BILL SINGER
The Brave And Scary New World of HFT
Featuring Shah Gilani
The SEC's New Bounty Program For Whistleblowers
Featuring Aegis Frumento, Esq.
Is the U.S. the Only Sheriff in Town?
Dodd Frank And the CFTC's New Swap Regulations
Featuring Professor Ronald Filler, Esq.