House panels schedule joint hearing on financial derivatives

July 10: The US House’s Agriculture and Financial Services Committees will hold a joint hearing on Obama administration proposals to regulate over-the-counter derivative markets in Room 345, the Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building, at 10 a.m. US Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will be the only witness.

Why it matters: Neither Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.), who chairs the Agriculture Committee, nor Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who chair the Financial Services Committee, have been reticent about their interest in seeing financial derivatives more closely regulated, especially after last summer’s crude oil price spike. Oil and gas producers who use future markets as price hedges are concerned that over-the-counter transactions may become so tightly regulated that they’re no longer workable. This hearing will provide a glimpse into what these two key House players, as well as the Obama administration, have in mind. A spokeswoman for one of the committees said that it probably will be webcast and might be broadcast on C-SPAN.

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