Thank you. It’s good to be here this morning to discuss our regulation governing residual interest. Along with the rest of my colleagues, I’m eager to hear the assembled experts discuss the substance of this rule. First though, I wanted to make a few opening remarks to remind us all of how we got to this point. In late 2013, following the collapse of notable FCMs due to inadequate funds, the CFTC promulgated new regulations that were aimed at increasing customer protection requirements on FCMs. One of the regulations in that package required that “an FCM had to maintain their own capital . . . in customer segregated accounts in an amount equal to or greater than its customers’ aggregate under-margined amounts.”1 In other words, we were requiring that FCMs had adequate money to cover customers if they had insufficient money in their own accounts. This reserve money is what we call residual interest, and it is a key protection for consumers. Absent this requirement, there is increased danger that an FCM will not be able to cover customers’ margin in the moment, and FCMs and their customers will be at risk of more FCMs failing unexpectedly. The fact that this is a protection for consumers and investors should remain in the front and back of our minds at this discussion.
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