Credit derivatives

Five financial regulatory agencies clarified the meaning of "covered funds" under the Volcker Rule. Meanwhile, the FDIC gave certain banks more flexibility in interaffiliate exchanges of swaps and adopted a workaround of a court decision governing interest rates on loans sold across state lines.

Readers react to Sen. Warren's plan to weed out Washington corruption, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony before Congress, restricting the Federal Reserve's proposed real-time payments system and more.

A regulatory proposal to ease the initial margin buffer on certain derivatives trading could be harmful to the economy.

Federal regulators should amend a capital buffer requirements for certain derivatives to avoid economic damage.

The plan approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Tuesday would require banks to exchange initial margin only in deals involving external swaps parties.

Expanding exemptions for initial margin requirements on swaps transactions “would harm financial stability and U.S. taxpayers,” said the top Democrats on the House and Senate banking panels.

Regulators should proceed with removing one of the margin requirements for trading swaps.

Attempts to roll back a safeguard on derivatives would give megabanks a $40 billion windfall, putting taxpayers on the hook.

After more than six years, the Fed is ending its order requiring greater risk controls at JPMorgan Chase, following an estimated $6 billion in trading losses in 2012 that stemmed from a single trader.

The Fed is moving to prepare banks for unexpected shocks tied to weather; rules would be eased for trades between affiliates.