Washington- The President's Working Group on Financial Markets today announced a series of initiatives to strengthen oversight and the infrastructure of the over-the-counter derivatives market.

Initiatives announced today include the development of credit default swap central counterparties, some of which will commence operations before the end of 2008, and the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding regarding CDS central counterparties among the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The PWG also announced a broad set of policy objectives to guide efforts to address the full range of challenges associated with OTC derivatives and issued a progress summary to provide an overview of the results of ongoing efforts to strengthen the infrastructure of OTC derivatives markets.

The Treasury Secretary serves as chair of the group, which includes the Chairs of the Federal Reserve Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the ...   more »