The commodity trading regulator is passing the hat for funds but not waiting for results.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has begun spending the modest budget increase it received from lawmakers in April. Last week the agency sent out help wanted ads for experts to oversee new areas of its purview, including swaps.
The CFTC is adding the positions but still is passing the hat around congress, with Gary Gensler continually seeking an audience in front of the likes of the Senate Appropriations Committee and others looking for funding. In April the CFTC received $202 million, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. But it was far less than the $261mn the agency says it needs to enforce Dodd-Frank.
“Apply now for an exciting opportunity at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to help shape mission-critical programs to regulate the derivative markets,” begin the announcements, which go on to explain how Dodd-Frank reform has “expanded the CFTC’s regulatory authority to the swaps marketplace, augmenting the CFTC’s mission to protect the American public by promoting market integrity, transparency and preventing and prosecuting fraud, manipulation and other abuse in both the swaps and futures markets.”
To that end the commission, in the latest tranche, is looking for 16 directors, deputy directors and one chief counsel for such positions as Deputy Director for Exchange and Data Repository, Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, Deputy Director for Market and Trade Practice Surveillance, Chief Counsel, Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, Deputy Director for Registration and Compliance and many more. Salaries for these positions range from $150,000-$230,000 per year.
But the new hires will have a lot of work to do. The CFTC has already given up hope in completing its mandate by July and is now hoping to finish by early fall (see related story here). But even then the CFTC will be hurting. According to the New York Times, Mr. Gensler has complained that once the rules are complete, the agency will not have the funds to enforce them. And about 200 firms registering with the commission as swaps dealers may have to wait several months for the agency to process their applications.
Perhaps new employees help put a dent in the load.