The Federal Reserve Board eagle logo links to home page Remarks
by Chairman Alan Greenspan Government regulation and derivative
contracts At the Financial Markets Conference of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Coral Gables, Florida February 21, 1997
I am pleased to participate once again in the Federal Reserve
Bank of Atlanta's annual Financial Markets Conference. As in
previous years, the Reserve Bank has developed a conference
program that is quite timely. Changes in technology have
permitted the development in recent years of increasingly
diverse financial instruments and intensely competitive market
structures. The rapid evolution of products and markets has led
many to conclude that market regulatory structures, many of
which were established in the 1920s and 1930s, have become
increasingly outdated. Some see new products and markets not
covered by government regulation and fear the consequences of
so-called "regulatory gaps." Others see old government
regulations applied to new instruments and mark