Derivatives Reform and Regulation

Financial derivatives allow users to manage or hedge business risks that arise from volatile commodity prices, interest rates, foreign currencies and a wide range of other variables. Derivatives also permit potentially risky speculation on future trends in those rates and prices. Derivatives markets are very large, measured in the hundreds of trillions of dollars, and they grew rapidly in the years before the recent financial crisis. The events of the crisis have sparked calls for fundamental reform. This book examines the key issues in derivatives reform and regulation; the conflicts of interest in derivatives clearing; and, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.