Title 17 published on 2012-04-01
The following are only the Rules published in the Federal Register after the published date of Title 17.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) is adopting revisions to the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) Filer Manual and related rules to reflect updates to the EDGAR system. The revisions are being made primarily to introduce the new EDGARLink Online submission type IRANNOTICE; and support PDF as an official filing format for submission types 497AD, 40-17G, 40-17G/A, 40-17GCS, 40-17GCS/A, 40-24B2, and 40-24B2/A. The EDGAR system is scheduled to be upgraded to support this functionality on January 14, 2013.
On August 6, 2010 and September 16, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published documents in the Federal Register (75 FR 47449 and76 FR 57637, respectively) that each included an inaccurate amendatory instruction pertaining to an authority citation. The Commission is publishing this technical amendment to accurately reflect the authority citation in the Code of Federal Regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting amendments to Rule 17Ad-17 to implement the requirements of Section 929W of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). That Section added to Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) subsection (g), “Due Diligence for the Delivery of Dividends, Interest, and Other Valuable Property Rights,” which directs the Commission to revise Exchange Act Rule 17Ad-17, “Transfer Agents' Obligation to Search for Lost Securityholders” to: extend the requirements of Rule 17Ad-17 to search for lost securityholders from only recordkeeping transfer agents to brokers and dealers as well; add a requirement that “paying agents” notify “unresponsive payees” that a paying agent has sent a securityholder a check that has not yet been negotiated; and add certain other provisions. The Commission also is adopting a proposed conforming amendment to Rule 17Ad-7(i) and new Rule 15b1-6, a technical rule to help ensure that brokers and dealers have notice of their new obligations with respect to lost securityholders and unresponsive payees.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) is amending its regulations delegating authority to the Commission's Office of General Counsel, so that all delegations thereto will be to the General Counsel, with authority to sub-delegate to any Commission employee under the supervision of the General Counsel.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is changing the compliance dates for certain rules in the Commission's regulations governing business conduct standards for swap dealers (“SDs”) and major swap participants (“MSPs”), and certain rules requiring SDs and MSPs to engage in portfolio reconciliation and to have certain documentation with their swap counterparties. The Commission is extending the compliance date for certain rules by four months, and up to six months for others. The extended compliance dates are intended to provide SDs and MSPs with additional time to achieve compliance with certain regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is amending rule 206(3)-3T under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, a temporary rule that establishes an alternative means for investment advisers who are registered with the Commission as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. The amendment extends the date on which rule 206(3)-3T will sunset from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2014.
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.
On December 10, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register to amend its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013, and amend the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The document contained an error with respect to the placement and numbering of a footnote.
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 adopting regulations to establish a clearing requirement under new section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act), enacted under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The regulations require that certain classes of credit default swaps (CDS) and interest rate swaps, described herein, be cleared by a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) registered with the Commission. The Commission also is adopting regulations to prevent evasion of the clearing requirement and related provisions.
The Commission is amending its regulations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the dates for certain requirements therein and amending the General Instructions to Form 19b-4 to clarify the process for submitting advance notices and security-based swap submissions to the Commission. The Commission is extending the dates with respect to the requirements that designated clearing agencies for which the Commission is the supervisory agency file advance notices and clearing agencies file security-based swap submissions with the Commission in an electronic format to dedicated email addresses to December 10, 2013 in order to prevent the scenario that such filings are required to be filed with the Commission through a system that is not yet technologically able to accept them.
This release makes a technical correction to Release No. 34-67717 (August 22, 2012), which adopted disclosure rules for resource extraction issuers and was published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2012 (77 FR 56365). We are correcting the release to include the text of a footnote that was omitted when published.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting a new rule under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Investment Company Act”) to establish a standard of credit-worthiness in place of a statutory reference to credit ratings that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) removes. The rule will establish the standard of credit quality that must be met by certain debt securities purchased by entities relying on the Investment Company Act exemption for business and industrial development companies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) is adopting a new rule in accordance with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The new rule establishes minimum requirements regarding how registered clearing agencies must maintain effective risk management procedures and controls as well as meet the statutory requirements under the Exchange Act on an ongoing basis.
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.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) is amending its rule that governs the maximum amount of civil monetary penalties, to adjust for inflation. This rule sets forth the maximum, inflation-adjusted dollar amount for civil monetary penalties (CMPs) assessable for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission rules, regulations and orders thereunder. The rule, as amended, implements the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) is adopting revisions to the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) Filer Manual and related rules to reflect updates to the EDGAR system. The revisions are being made primarily to support public dissemination of previously submitted draft registration statements either under the JOBS Act or the Division of Corporation Finance's foreign private issuer policy; support PDF as an official filing format for submission type 40-33 and 40-33/A; support changes in the beneficiary account and receiver American Bank Association number and name for fee payments made for filings; and allow a future period date up to the next business date for Form 8-K. The EDGAR system is scheduled to be upgraded to support this functionality on October 1, 2012.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15Ba2-6T, which provides for the temporary registration of municipal advisors under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”), to extend the date on which Rule 15Ba2-6T (and consequently Form MA-T) will sunset from September 30, 2012, to September 30, 2013. Under the amendment, all temporary registrations submitted pursuant to Rule 15Ba2-6T also will expire no later than September 30, 2013.
We are adopting a new form and rule pursuant to Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to the use of conflict minerals. Section 1502 added Section 13(p) to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which requires the Commission to promulgate rules requiring issuers with conflict minerals that are necessary to the functionality or production of a product manufactured by such person to disclose annually whether any of those minerals originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. If an issuer's conflict minerals originated in those countries, Section 13(p) requires the issuer to submit a report to the Commission that includes a description of the measures it took to exercise due diligence on the conflict minerals' source and chain of custody. The measures taken to exercise due diligence must include an independent private sector audit of the report that is conducted in accordance with standards established by the Comptroller General of the United States. Section 13(p) also requires the issuer submitting the report to identify the auditor and to certify the audit. In addition, Section 13(p) requires the report to include a description of the products manufactured or contracted to be manufactured that are not “DRC conflict free,” the facilities used to process the conflict minerals, the country of origin of the conflict minerals, and the efforts to determine the mine or location of origin. Section 13(p) requires the information disclosed by the issuer to be available to the public on its Internet Web site.
We are adopting new rules and an amendment to a new form pursuant to Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to disclosure of payments by resource extraction issuers. Section 1504 added Section 13(q) to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which requires the Commission to issue rules requiring resource extraction issuers to include in an annual report information relating to any payment made by the issuer, a subsidiary of the issuer, or an entity under the control of the issuer, to a foreign government or the Federal Government for the purpose of the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals. Section 13(q) requires a resource extraction issuer to provide information about the type and total amount of such payments made for each project related to the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals, and the type and total amount of payments made to each government. In addition, Section 13(q) requires a resource extraction issuer to provide information regarding those payments in an interactive data format.
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). Section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Act added a new section 4s(i) to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which requires the Commission to prescribe standards for swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs) related to the timely and accurate confirmation, processing, netting, documentation, and valuation of swaps. These regulations set forth requirements for swap confirmation, portfolio reconciliation, portfolio compression, and swap trading relationship documentation for SDs and MSPs.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the Commission) is adopting revisions to the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR) Filer Manual and related rules to reflect updates to the EDGAR system. The revisions are being made primarily to support submission of Confidential Registration Statements; require Form ID authentication documents in PDF format; automate LTID generation for Large Trader registrations; support minor updates to Form D; remove superseded XBRL Taxonomies; remove the OMB expiration date from Form TA-1, TA-2, TA-W, 25-NSE; and request of unused funds. The EDGAR system is scheduled to be upgraded to support this functionality on July 2, 2012.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations governing the operations and activities of commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors (CTAs) in order to have those regulations reflect changes made to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act).
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) is adopting regulations to further implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) regarding registration of intermediaries. Specifically, the Commission is adopting certain conforming amendments to the Commission's regulations regarding the registration of intermediaries, consistent with other Commission rulemakings issued pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, and other non-substantive, technical amendments to its regulations.
On July 16, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published an interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T to extend the date on which the rule will expire. That rule omitted a comment date and an addresses section in its preamble. This correction adds the comment date and address information in the following captions.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) published the Real-Time Public Reporting of Swap Transaction Data (“Real-Time Public Reporting”) rule and an accompanying preamble in the Federal Register on Monday, January 9, 2012 (77 FR 1182). This document makes an editorial correction to language of the preamble that conflicted with the rule text of the final rule.
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 Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting Rule 613 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act” or “Act”) to require national securities exchanges and national securities associations (“self-regulatory organizations” or “SROs”) to submit a national market system (“NMS”) plan to create, implement, and maintain a consolidated order tracking system, or consolidated audit trail, with respect to the trading of NMS securities, that would capture customer and order event information for orders in NMS securities, across all markets, from the time of order inception through routing, cancellation, modification, or execution.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting regulations to establish a schedule to phase in compliance with the clearing requirement under new section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act), enacted under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The schedule will provide additional time for compliance with this requirement. This additional time is intended to facilitate the transition to the new regulatory regime established by the Dodd-Frank Act in an orderly manner that does not unduly disrupt markets and transactions.
On July 13, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published a document in the Federal Register (77 FR 41602), concerning, among other things, the process for submissions for review of security-based swaps for mandatory clearing and notice filing requirements for clearing agencies. The document contained typographical errors in the preamble and in the general authority for Part 240. The Commission is publishing corrections to the preamble and the general authority as well as a clarification concerning the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number for Rule 3Ca-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) is publishing interpretive guidance with respect to sections 3(a)(41) (the definition of “mortgage related security”) and 3(a)(53)(A) (the definition of “small business related security”) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), in light of section 939(e) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). Section 939(e) strikes provisions in sections 3(a)(41) and 3(a)(53)(A) of the Exchange Act that reference credit ratings issued by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (“NRSROs”), and inserts new text that provides that in order to satisfy these definitions a security must meet “standards of credit-worthiness as established by the Commission.” Because more time is needed to develop and establish standards of creditworthiness for purposes of these definitions, the Commission is providing a transitional interpretation that will be applicable on and after July 20, 2012, and until such time as final Commission rules establishing new standards of creditworthiness become effective. The Commission also is seeking comment on potential standards of creditworthiness that could be established to replace the use of NRSRO credit ratings in the definitions of the terms “mortgage related security” and “small business related security.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting final regulations to implement certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). These regulations govern the exception to the clearing requirement available to swap counterparties meeting certain conditions under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act.
Notice is hereby given of the publication of technical amendments to Guide 3, Statistical Disclosure by Bank Holding Companies (“Industry Guide 3”), and Guide 7, Description of Property by Issuers Engaged or to be Engaged in Significant Mining Operations (“Industry Guide 7”), of the Securities Act of 1933 Industry Guides (“Industry Guides”). These revisions are to conform the Industry Guides to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification TM (“FASB Codification”).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is making a technical amendment to rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to correct an inadvertent error. On December 21, 2011, the Commission extended the expiration date for the temporary municipal advisor registration regime to September 30, 2012. In the release extending the expiration date, the Commission inadvertently omitted a reference to Subpart N, which resulted in the deletion of Subpart N from the Code of Federal Regulations. With this technical amendment, the Commission is correcting the omission and adding back Subpart N to the Code of Federal Regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is amending interim final temporary Rule 15b12-1T under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to extend the date on which the rule will expire from July 16, 2012 to July 16, 2013.
In accordance with Section 763(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is adopting rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) to specify the process for a registered clearing agency's submission for review of any security-based swap, or any group, category, type or class of security-based swaps, that the clearing agency plans to accept for clearing, the manner of notice the clearing agency must provide to its members of such submission and the procedure by which the Commission may stay the requirement that a security-based swap is subject to mandatory clearing while the clearing of the security-based swap is reviewed. The Commission also is adopting a rule to specify that when a security-based swap is required to be cleared, the submission of the security-based swap for clearing must be for central clearing to a clearing agency that functions as a central counterparty. In addition, the Commission is adopting rules to define and describe when notices of proposed changes to rules, procedures or operations are required to be filed by designated financial market utilities in accordance with Section 806(e) of Title VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act and to set forth the process for filing such notices with the Commission. Finally, the Commission is adopting rules to make conforming changes as required by the amendments to Section 19(b) of the Exchange Act contained in Section 916 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
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.
We are adopting a new rule and amendments to our proxy disclosure rules to implement Section 952 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which added Section 10C to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 10C requires the Commission to adopt rules directing the national securities exchanges and national securities associations to prohibit the listing of any equity security of an issuer that is not in compliance with Section 10C's compensation committee and compensation adviser requirements. In accordance with the statute, new Rule 10C-1 directs the national securities exchanges to establish listing standards that, among other things, require each member of a listed issuer's compensation committee to be a member of the board of directors and to be “independent,” as defined in the listing standards of the national securities exchanges adopted in accordance with the final rule. In addition, pursuant to Section 10C(c)(2), we are adopting amendments to our proxy disclosure rules concerning issuers' use of compensation consultants and related conflicts of interest.
This document corrects incorrect text published in the Federal Register of April 9, 2012, and June 19, 2012, regarding Customer Clearing Documentation, Timing of Acceptance for Clearing, and Clearing Member Risk Management, and Core Principles and Other Requirements for Designated Contract Markets.
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”).
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission” or “SEC”) is extending the date by which advisers must comply with the ban on third-party solicitation in rule 206(4)-5 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the “pay to play” rule. The Commission is extending the compliance date in order to ensure an orderly transition for advisers and third-party solicitors as well as to provide additional time for them to adjust compliance policies and procedures after the transition.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is adopting rules to further implement the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”) with respect to the new statutory framework regarding swap data recordkeeping and reporting established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The Dodd-Frank Act, which amended the CEA, directs that rules adopted by the Commission shall provide for the reporting of data relating to swaps entered into before the date of enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act, the terms of which have not expired as of the date of enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act (“pre-enactment swaps”) and data relating to swaps entered into on or after the date of enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act and prior to the compliance date specified in the Commission's final swap data reporting rules (“transition swaps”). These final rules establish swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements for pre-enactment swaps and transition swaps.
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 Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is making a technical amendment to the definition of “covered associate” in rule 206(4)-5 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”) to correct an inadvertent error in the rule as published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2011.
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 issuing a final rule to repeal and replace the Commission's current regulations concerning commodity options. The Commission is also issuing an interim final rule (with a request for additional comment) that incorporates a trade option exemption into the final rules for commodity options (added § 32.3). For a transaction to be within the trade option exemption, the option, the offeror (seller), and the offeree (buyer), as applicable, must satisfy certain eligibility requirements, including that the option, if exercised, be physically settled, that the option seller meet certain eligibility requirements, and that the option buyer be a commercial user of the commodity underlying the option, and certain other regulatory conditions. Only comments pertaining to the interim final rule will be considered in any further action related to these rules.
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.
We are adopting exemptions under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 for security-based swaps issued by certain clearing agencies satisfying certain conditions. The final rules exempt transactions by clearing agencies in these security-based swaps from all provisions of the Securities Act, other than the Section 17(a) anti-fraud provisions, as well as exempt these security-based swaps from Exchange Act registration requirements and from the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act, provided certain conditions are met.
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.
The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to Title 17 after this date.
On November 23, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule for public comment to establish capital, margin, and segregation requirements for security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) and amend capital requirements for broker-dealers. The Commission is extending the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments.
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).
Technical corrections are being made to the Commission's Release No. 34-68071, which proposed capital and margin requirements for security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”) and major security-based swap participants (“MSBSPs”), segregation requirements for SBSDs, and notification requirements with respect to segregation for SBSDs and MSBSPs, as well as increases to the minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers permitted to use the alternative internal model-based method for computing net capital.
In accordance with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Frank Act”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”), pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), is proposing capital and margin requirements for security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”) and major security-based swap participants (“MSBSPs”), segregation requirements for SBSDs, and notification requirements with respect to segregation for SBSDs and MSBSPs. The Commission also is proposing to increase the minimum net capital requirements for broker-dealers permitted to use the alternative internal model-based method for computing net capital (“ANC broker-dealers”).
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 Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing to amend rule 206(3)-3T under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, a temporary rule that establishes an alternative means for investment advisers that are registered with the Commission as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. The amendment would extend the date on which rule 206(3)-3T will sunset from December 31, 2012 to December 31, 2014.
We are proposing amendments to Rule 506 of Regulation D and Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933 to implement Section 201(a) of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act. The proposed amendment to Rule 506 would provide that the prohibition against general solicitation and general advertising contained in Rule 502(c) of Regulation D would not apply to offers and sales of securities made pursuant to Rule 506, provided that all purchasers of the securities are accredited investors. The proposed amendment to Rule 506 would also require that, in Rule 506 offerings that use general solicitation or general advertising, the issuer take reasonable steps to verify that purchasers of the securities are accredited investors. The proposed amendment to Rule 144A(d)(1) would provide that securities may be offered pursuant to Rule 144A to persons other than qualified institutional buyers, provided that the securities are sold only to persons that the seller and any person acting on behalf of the seller reasonably believe are qualified institutional buyers. We are also proposing to revise Form D to add a separate check box for issuers to indicate whether they are using general solicitation or general advertising in a Rule 506 offering.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) is proposing a rule to exempt swaps between certain affiliated entities within a corporate group from the clearing requirement (the “inter-affiliate clearing exemption” or the “proposed exemption”) under Section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”). The Commission also is proposing rules that detail specific conditions counterparties must satisfy to elect the proposed inter-affiliate clearing exemption, as well as reporting requirements for affiliated entities that avail themselves of the proposed exemption. The Commission has finalized a rule that addresses swaps that are subject to the end-user exception. Counterparties to inter-affiliate swaps that qualify for the end-user exception would be able to elect to not clear swaps pursuant to the end-user exception or the proposed rule. The proposed rule does not address swaps that an affiliate enters into with a third party that are related to inter-affiliate swaps that are subject to the end-user exception. The Commission intends separately to propose a rule addressing swaps between an affiliate and a third party where the swaps are used to hedge or mitigate commercial risk arising from inter-affiliate swaps for which the end-user exception has been elected.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing regulations to establish a clearing requirement under new section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act), enacted under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The regulations would require that certain classes of credit default swaps (CDS) and interest rate swaps (IRS), described herein, be cleared by a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) registered with the Commission. The Commission also is proposing regulations to prevent evasion of the clearing requirement and related provisions.
On July 19, 2010, the Commission published for public comment a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed to collect certain account ownership and control information for all trading accounts active on U.S. futures exchanges and other reporting entities (“OCR NPRM”). After considering all comments received in response to the OCR NPRM, the Commission is withdrawing the OCR NPRM and instead pursuing the collection of account ownership and control information through a separate proposed rulemaking published today elsewhere in the notice section of the Federal Register .
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is proposing new rules and related forms to enhance its identification of futures and swap market participants. The proposed rules would leverage the Commission's existing position and transaction reporting programs by requiring the electronic submission of trader identification and market participant data on amended Forms 102 and 40, and on new Form 71. The proposed rules also incorporate a revised approach to the Commission's previous initiative to collect ownership and control information, through a dedicated ownership and control report (“OCR”), for trading accounts active on reporting markets that are designated contract markets or swap execution facilities. The Commission welcomes public comment on all aspects of its proposal.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) is proposing a rule pursuant to its authority under Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) allowing cooperatives meeting certain conditions to elect not to submit for clearing certain swaps that such cooperatives would otherwise be required to clear in accordance with Section 2(h)(1) of the CEA.
On April 28, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish initial and variation margin requirements on uncleared swaps for swap dealers (“SDs”) and major swap participants (“MSPs”). 1 In October 2011, the Basel Commission on Banking Supervision (“BCBS”) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) established a Working Group on Margin Requirements (“WGMR”) to develop harmonized international standards for uncleared swaps. BCBS and IOSCO recently published a consultative paper prepared by the WGMR that outlines possible margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives (“consultative paper”). 2 The Commission is extending the comment period for its proposed margin rules for uncleared swaps for swap dealers and major swap participants in order to give interested parties the opportunity to comment on the consultative paper and the CFTC's proposed rules concurrently. 1 See 76 FR 23732. 2 The WGMR is comprised of representatives from over 25 domestic and international regulatory authorities, including the CFTC.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to add certain provisions to part 43 of the Commission's regulations pertaining to block trades in swap contracts. The provisions would: (i) Prohibit the aggregation of orders for different trading accounts in order to satisfy the minimum block size or cap size requirements, except for orders aggregated by certain commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”), investment advisers and foreign persons (as described in this release), if such person has more than $25,000,000 in total assets under management (“AUM”); (ii) provide that parties to a block trade must individually qualify as eligible contract participants (“ECPs”), except where a designated contract market allows certain CTAs, investment advisers and foreign persons (as described in this release), to transact block trades for customers who are not ECPs, if such CTA, investment adviser or foreign person has more than $25,000,000 in total AUM; and (iii) require that persons transacting block trades on behalf of customers must receive prior written instruction or consent from the customer to do so.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing regulations that would make clear that each swap dealer (SD), major swap participant (MSP), and other Commission registrant with whom an associated person (AP) is associated is required to supervise the AP and is jointly and severally responsible for the activities of the AP with respect to customers common to it and any other SD, MSP or other Commission registrant (Proposal).
We are requesting public comment on a statement of general policy (“Statement”) on the anticipated sequencing of the compliance dates of final rules to be adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to certain provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by those provisions (“Exchange Act”). These provisions establish a framework for the regulation of security-based swaps and security-based swap market participants under the Exchange Act. The Statement presents a sequencing of the compliance dates for these final rules by grouping the rules into five categories and describes the interconnectedness of the compliance dates for these rules, both within and among the five categories. The Statement also describes the timing of the expiration of the relief previously granted by the Commission that provided exemptions from certain provisions of the Exchange Act, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
On November 18, 2011, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) published in the Federal Register a final rule and interim final rule, which establish a position limits regime for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and options contracts and the physical commodity swaps that are economically equivalent to such contracts. In response to a petition for exemptive relief under the Commodity Exchange Act and certain comments to the Commission's interim final rule for spot-month limits for cash-settled contracts, this notice proposes certain modifications to the Commission's policy for aggregation under the position limits regime in CFTC regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is reopening the comment period for proposed amendments to its net capital, customer protection, books and records, and notification rules for broker-dealers under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), which was issued by the Commission on March 9, 2007. The original comment period for the proposed amendments closed on May 18, 2007, and the Commission extended the public comment period until June 18, 2007. The Commission did not act on the rules at that time. The Commission is presently reconsidering the proposed rule amendments. Given the passage of time since the amendments were proposed, the Commission is reopening for 30 days the time period in which to provide the Commission with comments.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is proposing this interpretative statement to provide guidance regarding the applicability of the confidentiality and indemnification provisions set forth in new section 21(d) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) added by section 728 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”). The Commission requests comment on all aspects of the proposed interpretative statement. The proposed interpretative statement clarifies that the provisions of section 21(d) should not operate to inhibit or prevent foreign regulatory authorities from accessing data in which they have an independent and sufficient regulatory interest, even if that data also has been reported pursuant to the CEA and Commission regulations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is reopening the period for public comment on amendments it originally proposed in Securities Act Release No. 9126 to allow interested persons to submit comments on the results of investor testing regarding target date retirement funds. The rule proposal would, if adopted, require a target date retirement fund that includes the target date in its name to disclose the fund's asset allocation at the target date immediately adjacent to the first use of the fund's name in marketing materials; require marketing materials for target date retirement funds to include a table, chart, or graph depicting the fund's asset allocation over time, together with a statement that would highlight the fund's final asset allocation; require a statement in marketing materials to the effect that a target date retirement fund should not be selected based solely on age or retirement date, is not a guaranteed investment, and the stated asset allocations may be subject to change; and provide additional guidance regarding statements in marketing materials for target date retirement funds and other investment companies that could be misleading.
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