Law Commons^™

Confederate Bonds, General Custer, And The Regulation Of Derivative Financial Instuments, Jerry W. Markham

Faculty Publications

The phenomenal growth of derivative financial instruments has sparked a near revolution in finance. These instruments take many forms and come in literally hundreds of varieties. Some, such as commodity futures and options, are heavily regulated when they are traded on organized exchanges. Other derivatives, particularly those traded over-the-counter, are subject to little regulation. Included on the list of unregulated derivatives are swap transactions. The swaps market alone is equal in size to the regulated markets with which it competes. The lack of regulation over such a large financial market and the losses suffered by some large firms in recent …