Ernie's Blog

In the middle of a blog item about credit default swaps, Felix Salmon of Reuters drops the following nugget about Sen. Chris Dodd and the CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, is a director of the CME, which paid her $153,219 in 2009; she also owns shares in the company worth about $235,000. (The CME makes no mention of her husband on its website or in its SEC filings, despite the fact that he’s surely a big part of the reason why she has the position.)" Why is this notable? Because Dodd, as the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is leading a charge to pass legislation from which the CME Group would likely benefit greatly. The CME Group's two exchanges in New York and Chicago are among the leading exchanges for derivatives in the world. Currently, many derivatives are traded over the counter – not on any exchange – but the legislation recently introduced by Dodd seeks to change that and put more trades onto exchanges like those owned by the CME Group. This is anticipated to be a boon for the company.