Prominent Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday threw their weight behind industry complaints that the nation's derivatives regulator is confusing markets as it rushes through a plethora of new rules. Frank Lucas, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, said the way the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued additional guidance on one of its rules this week was "irresponsible," and that it raised legal questions. On Thursday, the CFTC closed a loophole banks had used to avoid new rules requiring them to trade derivatives on newly established trading platforms set up after the 2008 financial crisis to make the market less opaque. But the fact that the document was issued as a "staff advisory" by an agency division - and not an official decision by the leaders of the agency - was questionable, said Lucas, whose committee oversees the CFTC. The CFTC did not return a request for comment. U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling, the Republican head of
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