On June 25, the five prudential regulators responsible for the margin rules for bank swap dealers (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Farm Credit Administration and the Federal Housing Finance Agency) adopted one final rule and one interim final rule that modify their original framework for margining uncleared swaps.
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CFTC Holds Open Commission Meeting
By Kevin M. Foley & Jack A. West on
Posted in CFTC, Derivatives
On May 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) held an open meeting to consider staff recommendations regarding amendments to two CFTC regulations. Both recommendations were approved by a unanimous 5-0 vote. Neither staff document is currently available.
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BCBS and IOSCO Announce another Postponement of Swap Initial Margin
By Guy C. Dempsey Jr. on
Posted in Derivatives
On Friday, April 3, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced another delay in the implementation of the global implementation of mandatory initial margin for uncleared swaps. The initial margin compliance date for Phase 5 will now be September 1, 2021. The compliance date for Phase…
BCBS and IOSCO Delay Non-Cleared Margin Rules
Posted in EU Developments, Financial Markets
On April 3, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) published a statement to delay the implementation of the final two phases of margin requirements for non-cleared derivatives by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the Statement).
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ESMA and EBA Respond to Letter From European Commission on Cryptoassets Work
On August 20, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter written jointly with the European Banking Authority (EBA) and addressed to the European Commission (EC) relating to cryptoassets. The letter responds to a letter from the Commission dated July 19.
The letter begins by welcoming the EC’s work responding to issues identified in the January 2019 reports by ESMA and the EBA on cryptoassets and initial coin offerings (for more information, see the January 11, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest). ESMA and the EBA agree that it is vital that further work progresses urgently to inform any actions taken by the new EC.
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Delay of Final Implementation of Swap Initial Margin Rules
By Guy C. Dempsey Jr. on
On July 23, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a revised framework for mandatory initial margin applicable to swaps that are not cleared with a central clearing party. The key revision was the insertion of an additional year into the implementation schedule for the margin rules.
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CFTC Chair Proposes Relief for Phase 5 Initial Margin Implementation
By Guy C. Dempsey Jr. on
On April 29, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo sent a letter to Randy Quarles, the Vice Chair for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in which he proposed that the US regulators responsible for the administering the margin rules for uncleared swaps should collaborate in providing some relief to non-dealer swap market participants who may become subject to initial margin requirements in 2020. The specific relief would be the issuance of the same guidance issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in March (for more information, see the March 8, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest), which stated that in-scope parties do not have to put in place compliant documentation and custodial relationships if there is no expectation that the exposure associated with their swaps will actually exceed the regulatory threshold for posting initial margin ($50 million for the United States).
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BCBS/IOSCO Provide Guidance on Uncleared Swap Margin Rule Implementation
By Guy C. Dempsey Jr. on
Posted in Derivatives
On March 5, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued guidance on two issues that have been identified in connection with the implementation of the framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives previously adopted by the two groups that initially went into effect in 2016. This framework is embodied in the margin rules for uncleared swaps that were adopted in the United States by the banking regulators for swap dealers subject to prudential regulation and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for other swap dealers.
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FSB Publishes Report on Cryptoassets
On July 16, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the work of the FSB and standard setting bodies on cryptoassets. The report was delivered to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meeting on July 21 – 22.
The standard setting bodies, whose work is summarized in the FSB’s report, are: (1) the FSB itself; (2) the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI); (3) the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and (4) the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
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