WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. derivatives
regulator on Thursday proposed widening the universe of
interest-rate swaps that must be cleared through a central
organization, as part of its efforts to align U.S. rules with
those overseas.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said its proposed
requirement for swaps that exchange interest rate cash flows
will be consistent with those in Australia, Canada, the European
Union, Hong Kong, Mexico and Singapore.
Since the 2007-09 credit meltdown, regulators worldwide have
worked to route varieties of swaps through clearing houses,
firms that stand between buyers and sellers and help reduce
risks.
Already, existing CFTC rules say that swaps involving the
British pound, Japanese yen or euro, as well as those pegged to
the LIBOR and EURIBOR floating rate indexes, must be cleared.
The proposal would add the Australian, Canadian, Hong Kong
and Singapore dollars, as well as the Mexican peso, Swiss franc,
Polish zloty, and the Swedish and Norwegian kronas. It would
also encompass the BBSW, CDOR, HIBOR, TIIE, WIBOR, SOR-VWAP and
STIBOR floating rate indexes.