In Brief: House Panel Passes Derivatives Measure

The House Banking Committee approved proposed legislation Wednesday that would isolate the risks posed by a failed financial institution engaged in derivatives contracts.

The bill would help institutions to consolidate, or "net," their debts on swaps and other derivatives contracts with an insolvent institution. Netting speeds the payment of contracts and helps reduce cash flow demands on a troubled entity involved in a chain of derivatives agreements, experts said.

It would also eliminate discrepancies between bankruptcy and bank bailout laws as well as clarify the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s power to transfer these contracts from a failed bank to a healthy institution.

The Clinton administration, banking regulators, and private industry groups such as the Bond Market Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association backed the measure.

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