DE Shaw rebukes Giancarlo’s big idea on Sefs

Hedge fund endorses electronic trading, as CFTC pushes for a return to old phone-based business

The CFTC proposed new rules for Sef trading in November

The multi-billion dollar investment firm DE Shaw gave a thumping endorsement of the electronic trading mandated by current rules on swaps trading in the US, adding that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s new proposals for swap execution facilities (Sefs) would be a step backwards.

“The CFTC dragged us kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century,” said Darcy Bradbury, Shaw’s managing director for external affairs, referring to the last administration’s push for electronic swaps