In every major financial centre on this planet, intense study is occurring on how to avoid a recurrence of both the surprise and the depth of the recent financial crisis.

One US senator estimated in November that over-the-counter derivatives had ballooned to $600tr in notional value since the adoption of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) of 2000. Whether that is true or not, the problem is anything but trivial.

Numerous pieces of legislation have been introduced in the US Congress on this subject by the Obama administration and various members of the House of Representatives and Senate.

Three thorny issues that surround these bills are: whether tighter regulation would in fact be helpful for OTC derivatives; whether end users should be exempt from some of the controls that may be imposed on dealers and other big participants; and whether it is wise to try and distinguish between standardised and...