US watchdog threatens ‘strong and blunt’ retaliation over EU clearing rules

Washington — US banks and securities houses could be barred from trading on exchanges in the European Union if the bloc refuses to water down “irresponsible” proposals for regulating foreign clearing houses, a top US regulator said on Wednesday. Christopher Giancarlo, chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), gave his strongest warning yet on possible retaliatory measures if EU regulators insist on close supervision of US-based clearing houses under new rules. "In my talks with European authorities, I have asked them to reconsider such an expansive approach," Giancarlo told a derivatives industry event in Chicago in a rare direct attack on another regulator. The new rules, which the bloc aims to approve before Britain leaves the EU next March, would mean that “systemic” foreign clearing houses could only serve customers in the EU if European regulators can jointly supervise them. Giancarlo said the CFTC will not allow the firms it regulates to comply with conflict...