J. Christopher “Chris” Giancarlo ’84, chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will deliver a Sims Lecture, “Derivatives Regulatory Reform Version 2.0: A Software Upgrade,” at Vanderbilt Law School Friday, April 13, at noon in Flynn Auditorium.
Giancarlo was unanimously confirmed as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 3, 2017. He had previously served as acting chair since Jan. 20, 2017, and as a CFTC commissioner since June 16, 2014. Before entering public service, he was executive vice president of GFI Group Inc., a financial services firm. Earlier in his career, he served as executive vice president and U.S. legal counsel of Fenics Software and was a corporate partner in the New York law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. He joined Brown Raysman from Giancarlo & Gleiberman, a law practice founded by he founded in 1992 following his return from several years in London practicing with the international law firm of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle.
A founding co-editor-in-chief of eSecurities, Trading and Regulation on the Internet, published by Leader Publications, Giancarlo testified before Congress regarding the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, and has written and spoken extensively on public policy, legal and other matters involving technology and the financial markets.
His lecture will address ongoing efforts to reform over-the-counter derivatives markets following the 2008 financial crisis. At the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit in 2009, global leaders agreed to work together to support economic recovery through a “Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth” and agreed upon several fundamental principles to reform over-the-counter derivatives markets. They pledged to work together to “implement global standards” in financial markets, while rejecting “protectionism.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission was the first mover, implementing most of the reforms by 2013 under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. In Europe, swaps market reform was first implemented in the form of EMIR, to be followed by MIFID II, much of which first came on line at the start of 2018.
In his talk, Giancarlo will discuss possible reforms based on more than four years of experience with the current CFTC regulatory framework.
