The saga involving the proposed regulation of over-the-counter derivatives, as covered in this post from last month, continues.

For several weeks, Senator Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) has been expected to introduce a bill that addresses several of the stickier issues surrounding OTC derivatives. Over the past month, he has been working with Senator Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) to come up with a bipartisan plan. Other legislators who’ve been working on the bill are Jack Reed (D., Rhode Island) and Judd Gregg (R., New Hampshire).

The most contentious issue continues to revolve around “the end user exemptions,” says Luke Zubrod, director of U.S. public real estate advisory practice with Chatham Financial, a consulting firm specializing in managing interest rate and foreign exchange risk. That is, will businesses that use derivatives to hedge their risks be treated differently than financial institutions that participate in the market to a much greater extent? more

In its latest study, IBM dubs the CFO “the new value integrator.” Think about that the next time you bump into the CIO. Check out IBM’s full CFO study here, along with a ton of related content, including a discussion forum and video.

Here’s IBM’s rationale: Value integrators are skilled at navigating uncertainty, and on every measure that IBM examined – revenue growth, EBITDA, and return on invested capital – their enterprises outperformed their peers’. They do so in large part because they excel at integrating information company-wide, analyzing it, and converting it to a competitive asset – new intelligence.

Pretty heady stuff, until IBM adds: “Our study also shows that too many finance organizations have yet to seize this opportunity – or meet their own [or maybe IBM’s] expectations.” Let’s take a look at some of the key findings. more

Harvard economist David M. Cutler jumps on the sugar-tax boat this morning in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. Arguing that the Obama health-care reform program is worth salvaging because it will help flatten the medical inflation curve, he nevertheless faults the proposals for lack of nutrition-sin taxes. The program “provides new incentives for physicians to focus on preventive and chronic care and opens Medicare to finding new ways of supporting prevention,” he writes. “The only area of weakness is the lack of a junk-food tax or a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Grade: Partial credit.” more

Zing!

A peppery interview with “Madoff whistle-blower” Harry Markopolos recently appeared in the decidedly mainstream publishing environs of the New York Times Magazine.

In the Q&A, Markopolos (who conducted a lengthy, and nearly fruitless, effort to persuade the SEC that Bernard Madoff was a fraud), provides a mass audience with some unflattering inside baseball.

As someone who has for years heard diss-y opinions about SEC commissioners and staffers (in strictly off-the-record conversations with regulatory insiders) it is, well, kind of wild to see Markopolos describe the following SEC officials to millions of readers in these words:

• James Donaldson: “Too tough on Wall Street, so he got the ax.”

• Christopher Cox: “He wasn’t going to do his job. That’s why he got the job.”

• Mary Schapiro: “Coldly polite.” And

• David Becker: “Ready to come across the coffee table and strangle me.”

Becker is current SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro’s general counsel. more

The excitement of the Oscars may be over for another year, but thanks to Florida lawmakers, the movie biz is lingering on in the limelight today. Rep. Stephen Precourt is in the hurt locker over a bill that offers a $75 million tax incentive package for companies that produce “family-friendly” movies but denies the tax break for movies that portray “nontraditional family values” . . . which could mean films that show families headed by gays, critics point out. more