UPDATE: ICE Wants Regulators To Set Energy Position Limits

The two biggest U.S. commodity exchange operators now have dueling plans to cap speculative bets on energy futures, with IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) proposing Thursday that federal regulators take the lead in administering position limits.

With few details emerging from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on how it will enforce position limits, ICE and CME Group Inc. (CME) have this week stepped in to fill the void with plans of their own.

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has said that the government should be responsible for setting and running position limits in energy, though the agency hasn't said what action it will take.

ICE agrees that the CFTC should set limits that cover trading in a commodity across all markets, similar to how the agency regulates agricultural markets that have long-standing position limits. The CFTC should also be in charge of granting exemptions to limits for companies that need to purchase large numbers of futures contracts to manage their physical commodities business.

"The CFTC has the experience, systems, and increasingly, the budget to administer this type of regime," ICE said in a statement, adding that the regulators are "uniquely able to determine compliance with limits and appropriateness of exemptions."

The proposal is markedly different from one released by CME Group on Wednesday, which would have exchanges manage their own position limits, with the CFTC capping the size of bets made in the over-the-counter market. Limits would work as a percentage of open interest in a contract.

ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher called the CME plan "anti-competitive," contending that it would "lock in incumbents" by allowing exchanges with bigger trading volume to set higher limits. CME owns the New York Mercantile Exchange, home to the light, sweet crude futures market, the most actively traded U.S. commodity contract.

A CME spokeswoman declined to comment on ICE's statement.

-By Brian Baskin, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2453; [e-mail]