U.S., Japan to Cooperate Further in Futures Market Supervision

Washington, Nov. 3 (Jiji Press)--The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission said Monday that it will enhance its cooperation with the
Japanese government to strengthen the supervision of cross-border commodity futures trading.

"Japan is a major participant in the world's commodity markets, and
many of the leading U.S. futures firms are also major participants in
Japan's markets," CFTC Acting Chairman Walter Lukken said in a statement.
"It is critical that regulatory authorities in our respective
jurisdictions work in partnership to oversee markets that are so closely
linked together," he said.
Specifically, the CFTC will exchange information on cross-border
derivatives trading with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
They will also exchange views on regulatory and supervisory systems
and hold talks on related issues on a regular basis.
The CFTC is cooperating with Japan's Financial Services Agency in
the supervision of financial futures trading.
The new arrangement will broaden the scope of the CFTC's
collaboration with the Japanese government to include such investment
vehicles as crude oil and farm product futures.
The CFTC has started cooperating with British authorities to
strengthen the control over crude oil trading following price surges in
summer that are blamed on cross-border market manipulation by speculators.
The two Japanese ministries welcomed the latest arrangement with
the CFTC, noting that leaders of the Group of Eight major countries at their
summit in Japan in July called for further international efforts to increase
the transparency of commodity futures markets.