CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2008 enacted into law

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize key provisions of the CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2008 which reauthorizes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) through the year 2013 and substantially enhances the CFTC's authority in several areas. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the enhancements to the CFTC's authority over off‐exchange retail foreign currency transactions; explains the expanded CFTC oversight of significant price discovery contracts; and summarizes other amendments to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), including expansion of CFTC anti‐fraud authority over principal‐to‐principal futures transactions, modification of civil and criminal penalties for certain violations of the CEA, required CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rulemaking on: risk‐based portfolio margining for security options and security futures products; and trading of futures on broad‐based indexes of foreign equities, and other technical amendments. Findings – This paper notes that the key provisions of the CFTC Reauthorization Act substantially enhances the CFTC's regulatory authority in several areas and provides an introduction to those provisions. Originality/value – The paper is an introduction to the new regulatory authority of the CFTC by experienced lawyers specializing in financial services.