In Briefs: Regulators of 14 Nations Sign Futures Data Pact

In the wake of last year's Barings PLC trading disaster, futures regulators from 14 countries have signed a declaration calling for greater sharing of information.

Separately, leaders of 49 futures exchanges and clearing houses from around the world also agreed that they would share information with other exchanges and regulators.

"In an era where exchange member firms typically trade on multiple exchanges, an individual regulator or market authority alone may not have the information necessary to evaluate the risks to its markets," said John E. Tull Jr., acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The declaration, called the Declaration on Cooperation and Supervision of International Futures Exchanges and Clearing Houses, was signed by regulators from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Sir Andrew Lange, chairman of the Securities and Investments Board in the United Kingdom, said the declaration and the agreement signed by the exchanges "are both responses to the lessons of the Barings case on the importance of cross-border communication between exchanges and between supervisors."

Under the declaration, certain events affecting the financial resources of an exchange member may trigger the sharing of information between regulators and exchanges. The idea is to identify large exposures taken by firms that could unsettle the market in the way the Barings collapse did in 1995.