OTC derivatives under Dodd-Frank: opportunities and challenges

Monday, October 31, 2011

08:30 Registration and coffee

09:00 PANEL DISCUSSION: Dodd-Frank and OTC derivatives

• Requirements and timelines
• Assessing the new power of the CFTC and SEC in the regulation the derivatives market
• Practical impact of regulatory reform on the buy and sell-side
• Industry response to Dodd-Frank regulatory reform

MODERATOR: Houman Shadab, Associate Professor of Law, NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

Jeffrey Maron, Head of Client Technology, GFI
 
Rama Cont, Director,Center for Financial Engineering, Columbia University, New York

10:30 Morning break

11:00 Dodd-Frank and regulatory arbitrage

• The meaning of regulatory arbitrage and its role in financial markets
• The role of regulatory arbitrage in the financial crisis
• The Dodd-Frank Act's approach to regulatory arbitrage
• Opportunities for OTC derivatives arbitrage under Dodd-Frank

Houman Shadab, Associate Professor of Law,  NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

11:30 PANEL DISCUSSION: Swap execution facilities

• The benefits and challenges
• Improving transparency
• What does it mean for the future of OTC derivatives trading

MODERATOR: Houman Shadab, Associate Professor of Law, NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

12:00 Derivative regulations: to clear or not to clear, that is NOT the question

• Dodd Frank Title VII
• CFTC vs Bank Regulators' Rulemaking on Title VII
• Basel III capital requirements
• Impact on banks' capital and liquidity requirements

Ahmet Yetis, Director, BARCLAYS CAPITAL

12:30 Lunch

13:30 The role of the central clearing house in derivatives

• How CCP's protect themselves and their members
• What buy-side need to know when selecting their designated clearing members

Atanas Goranov, Managing Director, Derivatives Risk Officer Investments, GUARDIAN LIFE

14:00 Central Clearing of OTC derivatives: challenges and perspectives

 Rama Cont, Director,Center for Financial Engineering, Columbia University, New York

15:00 Afternoon break

15:30  Can the Dodd-Frank Act defeat financial crises?

• The Dodd-Frank Act vs. natural cyclicality
• The fundamental problem is not risk, but uncertainty
• "Financial instability hypothesis" of Minsky
• "We cannot build a system that depends on...regulators"
• Not only complex, but wildly recursive
• Government actors not above, but part of the recursive complexities
• Government actors are just another set of actors enmeshed in the recursive expectations
• The difficulty of "regulating" the outcomes of the system as a whole
• "How can you regulate systemic risk when you are the systemic risk?"

Alex J. Pollock, Resident Fellow, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE and Former President and CEO, FEDERAL HOME LOAN BANK OF CHICAGO