NEW YORK (Reuters) - CME Group Inc <CME.O>, the world's largest derivatives exchange operator, warned against forcing futures and equities markets into the same regulatory mold on Tuesday, ahead of hearings in Washington.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission are hearing from market participants and experts, including CME CEO Craig Donohue, this week on how to harmonize their two styles of policing markets.
"(I)t is imperative that the CFTC and the SEC take into account the critical dissimilarities of their respective markets and the adverse consequences of trying to force them into the same mold," Donohue, who is scheduled to speak at the hearings on Wednesday morning, said in a statement.
"Harmonization does not include a merger of the existing regulatory structures into a single set of one-size-fits-all rules administered by separate agencies," he said, adding that would be costly, and stifle innovation and boost overseas competitors.
The CEO added that the futures industry has been "reinvigorated" by the CFTC's so-called principles-based style of regulation. The SEC, which monitors stock investors and exchanges, takes a rules-based approach.
In June, the Obama administration said the growth of derivatives markets "highlighted the need for addressing gaps and inconsistencies in the regulation of these products by the CFTC and SEC," as part of a wider financial reform plan.
It said the agencies must agree to a common foundation for regulation that is precise enough to identify market practices that violate those rules.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Gary Hill)
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