Thursday, November 18, 2010

Exposed: Power Freak Gensler Goes Gaga Over Controlling the $615 Trillion Derivatives Market

Well, surprise, surprise, the Dodd-Frank Act put the $615 trillion derivatives market under the control of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is headed by former-Goldman Sachs managing director, Gary Gensler.

This is right out of the Goldman Sachs playbook. They had Gensler ID'd since his college days. I reported back in May of 2009:
Gensler received his MBA from the Wharton School. A friend who attended Wharton with Gensler tells me he was the smartest student in the class. When Goldman visited the campus the year Gensler graduated, Gensler was the only student that they wanted to talk to.
Gensler is ecstatic about his new power and is already flexing his muscle threatening to delay registrations for various traders and dealers . EPJ's own Bob English explains:

With numbers that big, the regulators are salivating. Indeed, Chairman Gensler said as much:


"This is like the 1930s for the Securities and Exchange Commission. I mean, I am just tickled pink," he said.
...

He proudly displays a dog-earned copy of the Dodd-Frank law on his desk, its cover signed by a who's who of U.S. regulation: Ben Bernanke, Paul Volcker, Tim Geithner, Sheila Bair, Mary Schapiro and Elizabeth Warren, among others.

"It's like my high school yearbook!" Gensler exclaimed.

And he's not shy about asking for money, as the Reuters article continues:

The problem is getting the $261 million annual budget he needs from Congress where sceptical Republicans are expected to gain power in the Nov. 2 elections, and may even win control of the House of Representatives.

"I'm still hopeful," Gensler said.

He warned of delays in registering 300 new swaps dealers, trading venues, and data facilities.

"We've got ... to do something more than just 'robo-sign' them," Gensler said.

Cute. However, whatever the size of the new budget, it will be a drop in the bucket compared to the profits that will be reaped by those who already have inside access to the new rules and their timing.

Gensler isn't kidding when he says this is like the 1930's and the launch of the SEC for him. Gensler will have the power to make and break firms. He will have the power to influence commodity prices on specific exchanges, and move entire commodity market sectors and much, much more. Dodd-Frank has made Gary Gensler a major player.
 
To understand some of the power and the ways Gensler can wield it, be sure to read Bob English's full report, Ex-Goldmanite Tickled Pink as CFTC Ramps Up Price Fixing.

2 comments:

  1. It's a good company tough, Goldman, full of sincere, hard-working people, who just want to make a little money. Nothing improper or immoral here folks, move along.

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  2. I'm surprised MF Global has not been designated a PD yet with Corzine at the helm. They applied in mid-2009 before he got there. Maybe the fallout with Paulson still looms. Maybe their checkered regulatory past is an obstacle. Be interesting to see if they're on Gensler's priority swap dealer registration list.

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