WASHINGTON — House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., issued an unusual statement Thursday in which he announced he has directed his staff to have no contact with a former aide who joined a company involved in operating derivatives exchanges after he played a key role last year in writing financial regulatory reform legislation that includes a section on derivatives.
In press statement, Frank said that he agrees “completely” with criticism of the move by Peter Roberson, who left the committee in February to become vice president of government relations at the IntercontinentalExchange Inc., which operated futures and over-the-counter derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses.
Roberson’s move was reported in The Bond Buyer in February. In addition to his derivatives expertise at the committee, Roberson also was charged with overseeing legislation related to the municipal securities market.
“When Mr. Roberson was hired, it never occurred to me that he would jump so quickly from the committee staff to an industry that was being affected by the committee’s legislation,” Frank said. “When he called me to tell me that he was in conversations with them, I told him that I was disappointed and that I insisted that he take no further action as a member of the committee staff. I then called the staff director and instructed her to remove him from the payroll and provide him only such compensation as is already owed.”
Frank added that he does not believe a one-year moratorium on interaction with committee staff who become industry lobbyists is “adequate,” and that he has therefore instructed the staff to have “no contact whatsoever with Mr. Roberson on any matters involving financial regulation for as long as I am in charge of that committee staff.”
“Fortunately, examples of staff members doing what Mr. Roberson has done are rare, but even one example is far too much and that is why I wanted to make clear I share the unhappiness of people at this, and my intention to prohibit any contact between him and members of the staff for as long as I have any control over the matter,” he said.
Kelly Loeffler, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications at ICE, declined to comment.
Prior to joining the House committee, Roberson worked as a policy director at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
