Congress about to pass derivatives legislation

The House of Representatives has adopted a new bill on derivatives trading. It now just needs the approval of the Senat and the President's signature to enter into force. The core of the bill is a requirement to settle trades in swaps and other derivatives through registered clearing houses. During the breakdown of AIG last year, one of the major systemic risks was posed by credit default swaps (CSD) that AIG had entered into on a massive scale in over-the-counter (OTC) trades. The problem was that theses trades were nowhere registered and that there was thus no information available about the risk they involved.