CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo defended the CFTC FY 2019 Budget Request. The CFTC requested $281.5 million and 716 full-time equivalents, which was the same request of FY 2018.
Before the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies, Mr. Giancarlo asserted the importance of providing the CFTC with the tools to monitor and regulate the derivatives market. He explained that numerous and diverse industries use derivatives to hedge their cost of production, and that, without proactive regulation by the CFTC, misconduct could result in significant consequences to the economy.
Mr. Giancarlo stated that cyberattacks are the most significant threat to market integrity and financial stability. In this regard, he defended the CFTC's budget request as a means to address rapidly evolving technology and fraudulent schemes.
Mr. Giancarlo stated the following reasons for the budget request:
- To continue to minimize costs of compliance through revised regulation;
- To monitor systemic risk in derivatives markets, in particular with central counterparty clearinghouses;
- To expand econometric and quantitative analysis for risk modeling, stress tests and other stability-related evaluations for market oversight;
- To increase regulation to match the projected rise of designated clearing organizations ("DCOs");
- To monitor and investigate cyber threats and attacks on DCOs;
- To protect CFTC data from cyberattacks;
- To continue regulation over financial technology, specifically virtual currency; and
- To continue to investigate and prosecute fraudsters at the historically high level demonstrated in past year.
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