Sov CDS is an OTC derivative... It's regulated, to a degree, but differently and certainly not by the SEC, to the best of my knowledge.
I'm waiting for the Rolling Stone expos'e on what Goldman did to push Greece over the cliff after loading up on CDS's insuring Greek debt. This CDS situation is absurd. Why would anyone in their right mind sell me a thousand fire insurance policies on someone else's house; a house I happen to know is virtually certain to burn down, because I wired it myself!? Well, on second thought, I guess you'd sell those policies as long as you were sure that you could walk no matter what and retire to the Hamptons.
Hi, I currently trade CDS for a bank out of Asia and this market is "in general" not regulated. Certain jurisdictions may impose restrictions though, for certain categories of clients (I'm thinking of Taiwanese insurance companies for example, who cannot do CDS).
There's nothing wrong with CDS, in general, assuming the product is traded on the exchange and adequately collateralized. Sov CDS is an entirely different matter. It's a sh1t product that I, personally, wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. However, the reasons for that are different.
Regulation + derivatives + Big Banks = One big joke Sure, they might pretend they're regulated (mug institutional clients will believe them) and the regulators might pretend they're doing their job rather than jacking off to porn but money and power these days always wins over what's right and honest. Basically nothing has changed, and if caught it's a fine (probably built in to the banks' budgets) and of course nobody gets cuffed. It's rotten to the core......