New Regulations for Derivatives

Obama working on so many things at the same time:

The Obama administration will detail this afternoon its plan to regulate the exotic financial contracts that helped fuel the global crisis and crippled some of the biggest names on Wall Street, such as American International Group, sources familiar with the matter said.

The administration is seeking to amend securities law so that most derivatives would have to be traded through central clearinghouses regulated by the SEC and the CFTC.

In turn, the clearinghouses would require traders to maintain enough money in reserve so they could cover losses in any investments gone bad. These so-called margin requirements have been a hotly debated issue between the government and private traders because it curbs their profits.

Umm, profits? What about billions in loses? You know the guys behind all this mess on Wall St are already figuring out how to evade these new rules.

Source: WaPo