The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama last July 21, requires an unprecedented two- to five-year rulemaking process in which some 250 new regulations need to be researched and written by more than a dozen regulatory agencies. In addition to the Treasury, SEC and CFTC, these rulemaking agencies include the Department of Education, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board and the Comptroller of the Currency.

And timing may in fact be important, as companies like Wasson's look to budget for both compliance costs and possible margin requirements.

"If we don't need to spend 2011 dollars, this is money we could put to good use in rural electricity projects," Wasson told the panel, calling for the government to "test the regulatory structure on financials first" and calling for "time to watch and learn to participate in the new regulatory structure" and the creation of a "CFTC office to assist commercial end users."

Verett Mims, assistant treasurer at Boeing Co., expressed appreciation for the proposed foreign exchange exemption, but called for clarification of rules and regulations governing hedge accounting. Her company, in addition to the need to hedge steel and other commodities, is a frequent user of interest-rate swaps to smooth out volatility, she said.

"We would be precluded from hedging unless we get hedge accounting," she said. "We've had a long duration strategy which we thought was a great thing. This will become impossible, she added, "now that we don't have the ability to net" derivatives exposures. "We prefer to use that cash and create jobs."