17 CFR Part 3, Subpart A - Registration

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) is proposing technical amendments to its regulations that govern registration and review of exchange disciplinary, access denial or other adverse actions. The amendments would integrate existing advisory guidance and the amendments to part 9 would also incorporate swap execution facilities (“SEFs”) and update provisions currently applicable to designated contract markets (“DCMs”). The proposal revises existing rules to delete numerous cross-references to previously deleted regulations and adds citations to applicable parallel provisions for SEFs and DCMs. Additionally, the proposal addresses the publication of final disciplinary and access denial actions taken by the SEFs and DCMs on their exchange Web sites.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is amending its regulations regarding the timing for furnishing to the Commission the chief compliance officer (“CCO”) annual reports of futures commission merchants (“FCMs”), swap dealers (“SDs”), and major swap participants (“MSPs”) (collectively, “Registrants”). The Commission is also amending its regulations by delegating to the Director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“DSIO”) authority to grant extensions to the CCO annual report filing deadline.

This release is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (“Commission” or “CFTC”) final response to the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, et al. v. United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, (“ SIFMA v. CFTC ”), remanding eight swaps-related rulemakings to the Commission to resolve what the court held to be inadequacies in the Commission's consideration of costs and benefits, or its explanation of its consideration of costs and benefits, in those rulemakings. In this release the Commission addresses cost-benefit issues raised and suggestions for rule changes made in comments submitted in response to the Commission's Initial Response to the remand order.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is proposing to amend certain provisions of its regulations concerning Chief Compliance Officers (“Proposal”). The regulation that is the subject of the Proposal addresses chief compliance officers (“CCOs”) of futures commission merchants (“FCMs”), swap dealers (“SDs”), and major swap participants (“MSPs”) (collectively, “Registrants”). The proposed amendments would: Codify existing no-action relief regarding the timing of when a Registrant must furnish its CCO annual report to the Commission; clarify filing requirements for Registrants located in a jurisdiction for which the Commission has issued a comparability determination; and delegate to the Director of the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“DSIO”) authority to grant extensions to the CCO annual report filing deadline.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is proposing to amend one of its regulations. The proposed amendment would amend the conditions under which persons located outside the United States (“U.S.”) acting in the capacity of a futures commission merchant (“FCM”), an introducing broker (“IB”), commodity trading advisor (“CTA”), or commodity pool operator (“CPO”) in connection with commodity interest transactions solely on behalf of persons located outside the U.S., or on behalf of certain international financial institutions, would qualify for an exemption from registration with the Commission.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is amending existing Commission regulations to establish an alternative to fingerprinting to evaluate the fitness of natural persons who are required to submit fingerprints under the Commission's regulations and who have not resided in the United States since reaching 18 years of age (“Final Rule”).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is proposing to amend existing Commission regulations to establish an alternative to fingerprinting to evaluate the fitness of natural persons who are required to submit fingerprints under the Commission's regulations and who have not resided in the United States since reaching 18 years of age (“Proposal”).

This release is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (“Commission” or “CFTC”) initial response to the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, et al. v. United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission remanding eight swaps-related rulemakings to the Commission to address what the court held to be inadequacies in the Commission's consideration of costs and benefits, or its explanation of its consideration of costs and benefits, in those rulemakings. In this release, the Commission: supplements the preambles to the remanded rulemakings by clarifying that the costs and benefits identified therein applied both to domestic swaps activities and activities outside the United States that are subject to the Commission's swaps rules by operation of section 2(i) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”); and solicits comments on whether there are cross-border costs or benefits associated with the remanded rules that differ from those associated with activities within the United States. Following its review of the comments, the Commission will publish a further response to the District Court remand order which would include any supplementation of or changes to its consideration of the costs and benefits of the relevant rules as set forth in the rule preambles. The Commission will also consider whether to amend any of these rules in light of information developed in this process.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is adopting new regulations and amending 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 regulations also address certain related issues concerning derivatives clearing organizations (“DCOs”) and chief compliance officers (“CCOs”). The final rules will afford greater assurances to market participants that: Customer segregated funds, secured amount funds, and cleared swaps funds 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 Commission is amending its regulations to reflect the reassignment of responsibilities, including delegations of authority, resulting from its recent reorganization of Commission staff. Effective October 9, 2011, the Commission abolished the Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight and reassigned its staff and responsibilities to the newly established Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting regulations to 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.

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 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 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.

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).

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 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.

This document corrects language in the final rules published in the Federal Register of Thursday, January 19, 2012, regarding the Registration of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants. The Commission adopted regulations under the Commodity Exchange Act (Act or CEA) that establish the process for the registration of swap dealers (SDs) and major swap participants (MSPs, and collectively with SDs, Swaps Entities) in accordance with section 4s of the CEA, which was added recently to the CEA by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.