On 13 October 2017, the CTC and the EU announced substituted compliance determinations in respect of margin requirements for OTC derivatives. The determinations accept that the CFTC’s Final Margin Rule and EMIR’s risk mitigation and margin requirements are sufficiently comparable on a substantive outcomes basis. For those interested in reading the full text, we recommend […]

The CFTC yesterday proposed a large expansion to the classes covered by its clearing determination Regulation 50.4(a). The proposal’s intention is to make the CFTC clearing obligation consistent with a wide range of international jurisdictions. To this end, it adds the currencies of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland to […]

The only recently-acknowledged elephant of EU-US CCP lack of equivalence is one step closer to leaving the room. The European Commission has today granted the CFTC status as an equivalent regulatory regime for CCPs. The determination will be effected by a legally-binding implementing act in accordance with Article 25(6) EMIR. The decision follows the 10 […]

The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight yesterday issued no-action letter 16-25, extending no-action relief for SEF confirmation and recordkeeping requirements under CFTC Regulations 37.6(b), 37.1000, 37.1001, 45.2 and 45.3(a). Connoisseurs of CFTC no-action will immediately recognise the notorious regulations that require SEFs to obtain pre-trade physical copies of the master agreements to which their trade […]

Commissioners yesterday voted 2-to-1 to pass margin rules for uncleared swaps. The rules are broadly in line with those passed by the Prudential Regulators on 30 October 2015. Initial margin (IM) will be exchanged between covered swap entities (CSEs) and SDs, MSPs and financial end-users, subject to the $8bn gross notional exposure. IM may be […]

CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad delivered the keynote speech to yesterday’s meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges. In a slight departure from his consistent themes of the superlative work of the Agency he chairs, its budget woes and the social utility of derivatives markets, Chairman Massad highlighted different aspects of the relationship between regulation and […]

The CFTC has issued additional time-limited no-action relief from electronic reporting requirements in the ownership and control final rule (OCR Rule). The OCR Rule mandates the electronic submission of trader identification/market participant data, requiring both new and updated forms. No-action Letter 15-51 is the third postponement of enforcement for the OCR Rule and extends relief […]

The CFTC seeks comment on a proposed rule to modify which Part 45 data fields are regarded  as “material” under Regulation 23.502. Readers will doubtless recall CFTC No-Action Letter  13-31, granting relief as to the “material terms” of a swap for the purposes of portfolio  reconciliation; the proposal is to amend then codify and replace […]

The CFTC has published its proposed amendments to Part 45 Reporting Rules in the Federal Register. The proposal’s 166 pages are a partial answer to the panoply of concerns raised in the March 2014 questionnaire, which highlighted inconsistencies between SDRs, onerous data standardisation requirements, ambiguity for end-users and duplication of data throughout the clearing process, […]