Summary Box: Regulators Appeal on Swaps

WARNING ON DERIVATIVES: The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission is calling anew for Congress to impose new oversight on financial derivatives. Mary Schapiro warns that allowing risky instruments like credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage.

WALL STREET OBSTRUCTING? The chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission says Wall Street banks are seeking exemptions to the proposed new rules for derivatives that could shield more than half the trades that should be subject to disclosure.

WHY IT MATTERS: Credit default swaps, a form of insurance against loan defaults, nearly toppled insurance giant American International Group Inc. in late 2008, prompting a $180 billion federal bailout. The swaps now are being blamed for worsening Greece's debt crisis.

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