U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he wants global minimum standards on derivatives trading and urged regulators to avoid a “race to the bottom” in which financial risk moves to the least-supervised economies.

“We need global minimum standards for margins on uncleared derivatives trades,” Geithner said today in a speech in Atlanta. “Without international consensus, the broader cause of central clearing will be undermined. Risk in derivatives will become concentrated in those jurisdictions with the least oversight. This is a recipe for another crisis.”

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission are writing new regulations required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the financial overhaul enacted last July, after largely unregulated derivatives helped fuel the 2008 credit crisis. Dodd-Frank seeks to reduce risk and boost transparency in the $601 trillion global swaps market by having most swaps guaranteed by central clearinghouses and traded on exchanges or other venues.