On January 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division (MPD) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 21-04 and Letter No. 21-05 (the Staff Letters) to extend, for a limited time, parts of the temporary no-action relief granted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which expired on January 15.
Continue Reading CFTC Staff Provides Limited Continuation of Certain No-Action Relief to Market Participants in Response to COVID-19

On December 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it adopted a rule to limit the potential for overlapping or duplicative regulation within its security-based swap regulatory regime. Specifically, the rule exempts certain activities of security-based swap execution facilities (SEFs) and security-based swap dealers from triggering the requirement also to register as a clearing agency. The adopted rule is in line with similar exemptions for broker-dealers and national securities exchanges.
Continue Reading SEC Adopts Clearing Agency Rule to Limit Potential for Overlapping or Duplicative Regulation

On December 8, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved a final rule amending Part 37 of the CFTC Regulations addressing operational issues facing swap execution facilities (SEF) and their market participants in connection with the CFTC’s regulatory requirements for a SEF’s audit trail data, financial resources, and chief compliance officer (CCO). Specifically, the Final Rule (1) eliminates the requirement for a SEF to capture and retain post-execution allocation information in its audit trail data, (2) applies the existing Core Principle 13 financial resources requirements to SEF operations in a less burdensome manner, and (3) streamlines requirements for the CCO position and allows SEF management to exercise greater discretion in CCO oversight.
Continue Reading CFTC Unanimously Approves Final Rules Related to SEFs and Withdraws Comprehensive Proposals

On December 3, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) and Division of Market Oversight (DMO, and collectively, the Divisions) issued CFTC Letter No. 20-43, an interpretation regarding Sections 2(h)(1) and 2(h)(8) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the CFTC regulations thereunder.
Continue Reading CFTC Interprets and Issues No-action Relief from Certain Clearing and Trade Execution Requirements

On November 30, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight extended previously provided no-action relief for swap execution facilities (SEF) from certain timing requirements to file fourth-quarter financial reports and annual compliance reports.
Continue Reading CFTC Extends Timing Requirements for Certain SEF Year-End Reports

On November 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 20-35, which extends temporary no-action relief to swap execution facilities (SEFs) and other market participants originally provided by CFTC Staff Letter No. 17-60. (For additional information regarding CFTC Staff Letter No. 17-60, please refer to the November 17, 2017 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.) Staff Letter No. 17-60 provided that DMO would not recommend enforcement action against a SEF that has rules and/or procedures that use the SEF’s non-order book trading systems or platforms to facilitate the execution of block trades for swaps that are intended-to-be-cleared, and thus are not compliant with CFTC Regulation 43.2, subject to certain conditions being met.
Continue Reading CFTC Extends Relief for SEFs From Certain Block Trade Requirements

On November 13, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued CFTC Staff Letter No. 20-36, which extends no-action relief to swap execution facilities (SEFs) from the requirement to capture post-execution allocation information in their audit trail data.
Continue Reading CFTC Extends No-Action Relief to SEFs From Certain Audit Trail Requirements Related to Post-Execution Allocation Information

On November 18, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved a final rule (Final Rule) amending CFTC regulations relating to the execution of “package transactions” on swap execution facilities (SEFs) and the resolution of error trades on SEFs.
Continue Reading CFTC Unanimously Approves Final Rule Amending SEF Requirements

On November 2, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an amended order exempting eight Recognized Market Operators (RMOs) authorized within Singapore from swap execution facility (SEF) registration requirements.
Continue Reading CFTC Approves SEF Registration Exemptions for Additional Recognized Market Operators in Singapore

On September 15, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight (DMO) granted no-action relief to Tassat Derivatives LLC, a CFTC-registered swap execution facility (SEF), from SEF reinstatement requirements under CFTC Regulation 37.3(d). The no-action relief set out in CFTC Letter No. 20-27 is subject to certain conditions.
Continue Reading CFTC Staff Provides No-Action Relief to Registrant from SEF Reinstatement Requirements