Those who can't get enough of the ongoing haggling about how to bring over-the-counter derivatives under the regulatory umbrella are in luck: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced two joint meetings next month to seek input from the public on the "harmonization of market regulation."

The Obama administration's plan for financial regulatory reform would split oversight authority for derivatives between the CFTC and the SEC.

In June, the White House released a white paper calling on the two agencies to make recommendations to Congress for changes to statutes and regulations that would harmonize regulation of futures, which are regulated by the CFTC, and securities, which are regulated by the SEC.

While ever-blurring lines between the two has made a merger of the agencies a perennial topic of conversation, the turf war between them (and the Congressional committees that oversee them) has repeatedly killed the idea.

The first meeting on Sept. 2 will be held at the CFTC. The second one, a day later, will be held at the SEC. In addition, both agencies are accepting public comments until Sept. 14.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said the meetings will "move us further down the road of harmonizing our regulations to increase transparency, reduce regulatory arbitrage and rebuild confidence in our markets."

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said harmonizing their regulatory policies will improve market integrity by applying consistent standards to market participants.

Gensler said the review will most benefit the American public in three areas: to address gaps between the two agencies' financial regulatory authorities, to assess the effects of regulatory overlap and to bring appropriate consistency to the two agencies' regulation over similar products, practices, and markets.

A report by the two agencies identifying conflicts in the current statutes and regulations with respect to similar types of financial instruments and explaining why those differences are essential to achieving policy objectives or recommending changes that would eliminate them is due to Congress by Sept. 30.

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