17 CFR 1.54 - Contract market rules submitted to and approved or not disapproved by the Secretary of Agriculture.

This document corrects a compliance date stated in the preamble to a notice of final rulemaking published in the Federal Register of December 21, 2012 (77 FR 75523), regarding Adaptation of Regulations to Incorporate Swaps—Records of Transactions.

On November 14, 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Customer Protection Proposal”) 1 to adopt new regulations and amend existing regulations to require enhanced customer protections, risk management programs, internal monitoring and controls, capital and liquidity standards, customer disclosures, and auditing and examination programs for futures commission merchants (“FCMs”). The Customer Protection Proposal also addressed certain related issues concerning derivatives clearing organizations (“DCOs”) and chief compliance officers (“CCOs”). In order to provide interested parties with an additional opportunity to comment on the Customer Protection Proposal, the Commission is extending the comment period for the Customer Protection Proposal. 1 See Enhancing Protections Afforded Customers and Customer Funds Held by Futures Commission Merchants and Derivatives Clearing Organizations, 77 FR 67866 (Nov. 14, 2012).

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act” or “DFA”) established a comprehensive new statutory framework for swaps and security-based swaps. The Dodd-Frank Act repeals some sections of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”), amends others, and adds a number of new provisions. The DFA also requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) to promulgate a number of rules to implement the new framework. The Commission has proposed and finalized numerous rules to satisfy its obligations under the DFA. This final rulemaking makes certain conforming amendments to recordkeeping provisions of regulations 1.31 and 1.35(a) to integrate these regulations more fully with the new framework created by the Dodd-Frank Act. 1 This final rulemaking requires futures commission merchants (“FCMs”), certain introducing brokers (“IBs”), retail foreign exchange dealers (“RFEDs”) and certain other registrants that are members of designated contract markets (“DCMs”) or swap execution facilities (“SEFs”) to record all oral communications provided or received concerning quotes, solicitations, bids, offers, instructions, trading, and prices, that lead to the execution of a transaction in a commodity interest, whether communicated by telephone, voicemail, mobile device, or other digital or electronic media, and to keep those records for one year. This final rule also requires FCMs, IBs, RFEDs, and all members of a DCM or SEF to record and keep all written communications provided or received concerning quotes, solicitations, bids, offers, instructions, trading, and prices, that lead to the execution of a transaction in a commodity interest or related cash or forward transactions, whether communicated by telephone, voicemail, facsimile, instant messaging, chat rooms, electronic mail, mobile device, or other digital or electronic media, and to keep those written records for five years. 1 All Commission regulations are in Chapter I of Title 17 of the CFR.

The Commission charges fees to designated contract markets and registered futures associations to recover the costs incurred by the Commission in the operation of its program of oversight of self-regulatory organization rule enforcement programs, specifically National Futures Association, a registered futures association, and the designated contract markets. The calculation of the fee amounts charged for FY 2012 by this notice is based upon an average of actual program costs incurred during FY 2009, 2010, and 2011.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is proposing to adopt new regulations and amend existing regulations to require enhanced customer protections, risk management programs, internal monitoring and controls, capital and liquidity standards, customer disclosures, and auditing and examination programs for futures commission merchants (“FCMs”). The proposal also addresses certain related issues concerning derivatives clearing organizations (“DCOs”) and chief compliance officers (“CCOs”). The proposed rules will afford greater assurances to market participants that: customer segregated funds and secured amounts are protected; customers are provided with appropriate notice of the risks of futures trading and of the FCMs with which they may choose to do business; FCMs are monitoring and managing risks in a robust manner; the capital and liquidity of FCMs are strengthened to safeguard their continued operations; and the auditing and examination programs of the Commission and the self-regulatory organizations (“SROs”) are monitoring the activities of FCMs in a prudent and thorough manner.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act” or “DFA”) established a comprehensive new statutory framework for swaps and security-based swaps. The Dodd-Frank Act repeals some sections of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”), amends others, and adds a number of new provisions. The DFA also requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) to promulgate a number of rules to implement the new framework. The Commission has proposed and finalized numerous rules to satisfy its obligations under the DFA. This rulemaking makes a number of conforming amendments to integrate the CFTC's regulations more fully with the new framework created by the Dodd-Frank Act.

In accordance with section 712(a)(8), section 712(d)(1), sections 712(d)(2)(B) and (C), sections 721(b) and (c), and section 761(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are jointly adopting new rules and interpretations under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to further define the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” and “security-based swap agreement” (collectively, “Product Definitions”); regarding “mixed swaps;” and governing books and records with respect to “security-based swap agreements.” The CFTC requests comment on its interpretation concerning forwards with embedded volumetric optionality, contained in Section II.B.2.(b)(ii) of this release.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission are correcting final rules that appeared in the Federal Register of May 23, 2012 (77 FR 30596). The rules further defined the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant” and “eligible contract participant.” Only the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are subject to this correction. This document also corrects a footnote in the Supplementary Information accompanying the final rules.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is adopting new and amended rules, guidance, and acceptable practices to implement certain statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The final rules, guidance and acceptable practices, which apply to the designation and operation of contract markets, implement the Dodd-Frank Act's new statutory framework that, among other things, amends section 5 of the Commodity Exchange Act (“the Act” or “CEA”) concerning designation and operation of contract markets, and adds a new CEA section 2(h)(8) to mandate the listing, trading and execution of certain swaps on designated contract markets (“DCMs”).

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) (collectively, the “Commissions”), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), are adopting new rules and interpretive guidance under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), to further define the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant,” and “eligible contract participant.”

The Commission charges fees to designated contract markets and registered futures associations to recover the costs incurred by the Commission in the operation of its program of oversight of self-regulatory organization rule enforcement programs, specifically National Futures Association, a registered futures association, and the designated contract markets. The calculation of the fee amounts charged for FY 2011 by this notice is based upon an average of actual program costs incurred during FY 2008, 2009, and 2010.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is adopting rules to implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. These rules address: The documentation between a customer and a futures commission merchant that clears on behalf of the customer; the timing of acceptance or rejection of trades for clearing by derivatives clearing organizations and clearing members; and the risk management procedures of futures commission merchants, swap dealers, and major swap participants that are clearing members. The rules are designed to increase customer access to clearing, to facilitate the timely processing of trades, and to strengthen risk management at the clearing member level.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting regulations to implement certain provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). These regulations set forth reporting and recordkeeping requirements and daily trading records requirements for swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs). These regulations also set forth certain duties imposed upon SDs and MSPs registered with the Commission with regard to: Risk management procedures; monitoring of trading to prevent violations of applicable position limits; diligent supervision; business continuity and disaster recovery; disclosure and the ability of regulators to obtain general information; and antitrust considerations. In addition, these regulations establish conflicts-of-interest requirements for SDs, MSPs, futures commission merchants (FCMs), and introducing brokers (IBs) with regard to firewalls between research and trading and between clearing and trading. Finally, these regulations also require each FCM, SD, and MSP to designate a chief compliance officer, prescribe qualifications and duties of the chief compliance officer, and require that the chief compliance officer prepare, certify, and furnish to the Commission an annual report containing an assessment of the registrant's compliance activities.