
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is reshuffling its approach to enforcement, and consolidating the division’s array of task forces into just two.
On Tuesday, the acting chairman of the U.S. derivatives regulator, Caroline Pham, announced the reorganization of its enforcement division’s task forces, which previously targeted an array of specific areas, including task forces devoted to manipulative trading, insider trading, digital assets, swaps and foreign corruption.
Most recently, in fiscal 2023, it introduced task forces focused on cybersecurity issues and emerging technologies (including artificial intelligence), along with a unit targeting environmental fraud.
The CFTC said its existing task forces will now be reduced to two: the Complex Fraud Task Force and the Retail Fraud and General Enforcement Task Force.
“The Complex Fraud Task Force will be responsible for all preliminary inquiries, investigations, and litigations relating to complex fraud and manipulation across all asset classes,” it said, while the other unit will handle retail cases and other enforcement matters involving derivatives violations.
In a release, Pham said the “simplified structure will stop regulation by enforcement and is more efficient.”
“These much-needed changes will maximize the CFTC’s resources to bring more actions to pursue fraudsters and other bad actors, and not punish good citizens,” she added.
The shift in enforcement follows a shakeup at the CFTC, in the wake of the new U.S. government taking power.
Since being installed as acting chair on Jan. 20, Pham has also named new acting directors for the CFTC’s various divisions, including the enforcement division, which is now headed by acting director Brian Young.
She also indicated that the agency will be hosting a series of public roundtables on trends and innovation in market structure — including issues such as affiliated entities and conflicts of interest, prediction markets and digital assets — to help set its policy direction.