U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged lawmakers on Wednesday to let regulators block companies from customizing derivatives contracts to avoid trading on central clearing houses.

In prepared remarks for delivery to the Senate Agriculture Committee, Geithner also said it was imperative that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission get powers to proactively require central clearing of any derivative types whether or not they are currently accepted for clearing.

He said that would protect against the possibility of rogue clearinghouses imprudently seeking new business and creating risks to stability.

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville and Mark Felsenthal, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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