On May 14, the Joint Audit Committee (JAC), a representative committee of US futures exchanges and the National Futures Association (NFA), released two regulatory alerts of particular importance to futures commission merchants (FCMs) that clear for customers whose accounts are managed by third-party advisers. The regulatory alerts “reconfirm and reiterate” the JAC’s view of existing… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
On April 25, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a proposed rule intended to improve the quality of swap data and update and streamline regulations related to the operations and governance of swap data repositories (SDRs) (Rule Proposal). Among other items, the Rule Proposal is intended to update requirements related to the following: 1) the… Continue Reading
On April 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule revising CFTC Regulation 160.5. The amended rule implements the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act’s (FAST Act) December 2015 statutory amendment to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act) by providing an exception to the requirement that certain futures commission merchants, retail foreign exchange dealers, commodity… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will host an open meeting at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23, at which it expects to cover the following topics: notice of proposed rulemaking regarding amendments to regulations on certain swap data depository and swap data reporting requirements; notice of proposed rulemaking regarding amendments to derivatives clearing organization general… Continue Reading
On May 25, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted an interim final rule designed to provide greater certainty to the global marketplace in the event of a “no-deal Brexit.” In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a negotiated withdrawal agreement, affected swap dealers and major swap participants may be required to transfer… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
On March 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that it has unanimously approved two final rule amendments designed to ease registrants’ regulatory burdens. Both final rule proposals originated from the CFTC’s Project KISS Initiative, which is intended to simplify and reduce burdens by revisiting our rules based on staff implementation experience and public comment.… Continue Reading
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.… Continue Reading
On March 5, the National Futures Association (NFA) submitted with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed amendments to NFA Bylaw 301 and Compliance Rule 2-24. The proposed changes to NFA Bylaw 301(l) are intended to specify that any individual applying for approval as a futures commission merchant (FCM), introducing broker (IB), commodity pool operator (CPO)… Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a meeting on March 7 at 10:00 a.m. ET, which will be open to the public. The meeting will cover the following topics: Amendment to the Comparability Determination for Japan: Margin Requirements for Uncleared Swaps for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants; Comparability Determination for Australia: Margin Requirements… Continue Reading
On February 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced 2019 Examination Priorities (the “Examination Priorities”) for registrants of the Division of Market Oversight (DMO), Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO), and Division of Clearing & Risk (DCR). This marks the first time that the agency has published Examination Priorities for its divisions.… Continue Reading
On December 10, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) introduced its latest market protocol, the 2018 Benchmark Supplement Protocol, which is designed to give market participants an efficient means to incorporate terms from the ISDA Benchmark Supplement into their existing and/or future derivative transactions.… Continue Reading
On December 10, the National Futures Association (NFA) submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for review and approval proposed amendments to various NFA Compliance Rules and four NFA Interpretive Notices to incorporate swaps into these rules and notices. Specifically, the NFA proposal would amend the following Compliance Rules:… Continue Reading
On November 19, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a final rule to amend its margin requirements for uncleared swaps for swap dealers and major swap participants for which there is no prudential regulator (CFTC Margin Rule). As a part of the Project KISS initiative, the amendments were designed to harmonize the CFTC Margin Rule… Continue Reading
On November 5, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission held an open meeting to consider the following matters relating to swaps and swap execution facilities: Final Rule: Amending the De Minimis Exception to the Swap Dealer Definition Proposed Rule: Amendments to Regulations on Swap Execution Facilities and Trade Execution Requirement Request for Comment Regarding the Practice… Continue Reading
On October 31, the Securities and Exchange Commission took an unusual additional step towards implementing its rules for security-based swaps (SBS) by issuing a document entitled “Commission Statement on Certain Provisions of Business Conduct Standards for Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Security-Based Swap Participants.” The novelty of the Statement is that it amounts to a… Continue Reading
On October 22, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published an evaluation paper that considers the impact that bringing seven additional benchmarks into its regulatory and supervisory regime had on the market. The paper evaluates the Benchmarks (Amendment) Instrument 2015 (Benchmarks Instrument), by which the FCA made amendments to the FCA Handbook to reflect the… Continue Reading
On October 11, the Securities and Exchange Commission demonstrated renewed interest in completing the regulatory regime for security-based swaps (SBS) by re-opening the comment periods for a number of SBS rules that were previously proposed but never adopted. Specifically, the SEC is requesting further comment on the following proposals:… Continue Reading
On October 1, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo released a white paper addressing the regulation of cross-border swaps. The white paper, titled “Cross-Border Swaps Regulation Version 2.0: A Risk-Based Approach with Deference to Comparable Non-U.S. Regulation,” sets forth various proposed changes to the CFTC’s current cross-border approach.… Continue Reading
On September 26, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published updates to two of its sets of question and answer documents (Q&As): (1) Q&As relating to the implementation of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR); and (2) those relating to data reporting under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR).… Continue Reading
On September 6, the National Futures Association (NFA) sent a notice to its members with information regarding the Interpretive Notice to NFA Compliance Rule 2-49. NFA Compliance Rule 2-49 requires swap dealers and major swap participants (collectively, SDs) to promptly submit relevant information to the NFA in the form and manner prescribed by NFA. The… Continue Reading
On August 29, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (Division) issued a no-action letter confirming that it will not recommend enforcement action against a futures commission merchant (FCM) if the accountant’s audit opinion included in the FCM’s annual financial report does not include “critical audit matters” (or the absence… Continue Reading
On August 28, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (Division) issued time-limited, no-action relief, permitting certain insured depository institutions (IDIs) from counting certain swaps toward the swap dealer de minimis threshold. Relief was requested after certain IDIs experienced a spike in the demand for interest rate swaps from existing… Continue Reading
