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On December 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose new rules to require resource extraction issuers to disclose payments made to foreign governments or the US government for the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals, as required by Section 13(q) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act).
Continue Reading SEC Proposes New Rules to Implement Resource Extraction Disclosure Rules

On December 18, the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO), the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) and the Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) each issued a no-action letter providing relief to market participants in preparation for the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other interbank offered rates (collectively with LIBOR, IBORs). The letters identify the terms and conditions pursuant to which counterparties may be eligible for relief in connection with amending swaps to replace provisions referencing discontinued IBORs with alternative benchmarks.
Continue Reading CFTC Grants Market Participants LIBOR-Transition Relief

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) previously announced an expansion to its ongoing transparency initiative for the over-the-counter (OTC) equity market. This expansion entails FINRA publishing new data about OTC trading volume occurring outside of alternative trading systems (ATSs).

As of December 2, FINRA began publishing the following types of data: 1) monthly aggregate block-size trading data for OTC trades in National Market System (NMS) stocks executed outside an ATS, on a one-month delayed basis; and 2) aggregate non-ATS volume for each member firm (by eliminating the de minimis exception for member firms executing fewer than, on average, 200 non-ATS transactions per day during an applicable reporting period).
Continue Reading FINRA Expands Transparency Initiative Related to OTC Equity Trading Volume

On July 8, the staff of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a report containing data and analysis concerning possible exclusions from the calculation of the swap dealer de minimis registration threshold for swaps executed on a regulated exchange and/or cleared by a derivatives clearing organization.
Continue Reading CFTC Report Concerning On-Venue and Cleared Swaps

On March 25, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted an amendment to the definition of a swap dealer found in CFTC Rule 1.3 to allow certain insured depository institutions (IDIs) to provide risk mitigating swaps to customers in connection with the origination of loans without counting the swaps towards their de minimis threshold. Under CFTC…

On October 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order to establish December 31, 2018 as the new de minimis threshold phase-in termination date under its swap regulations. This order is the follow-up to the proposal in this regard made by CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad in a speech on September 15. More details relating to the phase-in and the Chairman’s proposal can be found in the September 16 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.
Continue Reading CFTC Sets Phase-In De Minimis Amount Termination Date

Under Title VII of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd–Frank), dealers who execute a notional amount of swaps that exceeds a de minimis threshold must register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That threshold is currently $8 billion as a phase-in matter, but in accordance with CFTC Regulation 1.3(ggg)(4)(ii)(A), it is scheduled to drop from $8 billion to $3 billion on December 31, 2017 unless the CFTC acts to change that outcome. The CFTC has published two reports discussing issues relating to reduction of the de minimis threshold, but neither report contains a specific recommendation as to what the de minimis amount should be.
Continue Reading CFTC Chairman Proposes Extension of Phase-In De Minimis Amount Termination Date

On August 15, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (Division) published the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception Final Staff Report, which summarizes industry comments and data related to the scheduled change to the de minimis exception under the CFTC rules defining “swap dealer.” A related preliminary report analyzed swap data and policy considerations to assess the current de minimis threshold and potential alternatives. (For a more complete discussion of the preliminary report, see the November 20, 2015 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.) The current threshold of $8 billion will decrease to $3 billion after December 31, 2017, unless the CFTC sets a different date or modifies the de minimis exception.
Continue Reading CFTC Releases Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception Report