The global quest between nations and continents with aligned perspectives on assuring a standardized international regulatory framework continues as the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced this morning that the CFTC and the Reserve Bank of Australia along with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding cooperation and the exchange of information in the supervision and oversight of clearing organizations that operate on a cross-border basis in the United States and in Australia.
Through the MOU, the CFTC and the Australian Authorities express their willingness to cooperate in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates. This is the second commonwealth nation with which the CFTC has shown willingness to cooperate recently, with Canada’s provincial regulators also having entered into an MOU within the past motnhs.
The MOU also demonstrates Australia’s will to be regarded as a first class jurisdiction in which to operate as an FX firm, with its regulatory structure being highly respected globally, and critically among Far Eastern market participants within close proximity.
Additionally, this goes some way toward addressing the US authorities’ bill exposing bipartisan congressional legislation which curbs the scope of CFTC’s powers with regard to enforcement of cross-border regulation.