17 CFR Part 39 - DERIVATIVES CLEARING ORGANIZATIONS

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is proposing enhanced requirements for a derivatives clearing organization's testing of its system safeguards, as well as additional amendments to reorder and renumber certain paragraphs within the regulations and make other minor changes to improve the clarity of the rule text.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is adopting final regulations to establish additional standards for compliance with the derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) core principles set forth in the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) for systemically important DCOs (“SIDCOs”) and DCOs that elect to opt-in to the SIDCO regulatory requirements (“Subpart C DCOs”). Pursuant to the new regulations, SIDCOs and Subpart C DCOs are required to comply with the requirements applicable to all DCOs, which are set forth in the Commission's DCO regulations on compliance with core principles, to the extent those requirements are not inconsistent with the new requirements set forth herein. The new regulations include provisions concerning: procedural requirements for opting in to the regulatory regime as well as substantive requirements relating to governance, financial resources, system safeguards, special default rules and procedures for uncovered losses or shortfalls, risk management, additional disclosure requirements, efficiency, and recovery and wind-down procedures. These additional requirements are consistent with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (“PFMIs”) published by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems and the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“CPSS-IOSCO”). In addition, the Commission is adopting certain delegation provisions and certain technical clarifications.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) is proposing amendments to its regulations to establish additional standards for compliance with the derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) core principles set forth in Section 5b(c)(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) for systemically important DCOs (“SIDCOs”) and DCOs that elect to opt-in to the SIDCO regulatory requirements (“Subpart C DCOs”). SIDCOs and Subpart C DCOs would be required to comply with the requirements applicable to all DCOs, which are set forth in the Commission's DCO regulations on compliance with core principles, to the extent those requirements are not inconsistent with the requirements of the regulations in this proposed rule. The proposed amendments include: Procedural requirements for opting in to the regulatory regime as well as substantive requirements relating to governance, financial resources, system safeguards, special default rules and procedures for uncovered losses or shortfalls, risk management, additional disclosure requirements, efficiency, and recovery and wind-down procedures. These additional requirements would also be consistent with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (“PFMIs”) published by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems and the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“CPSS-IOSCO”). In addition, the Commission is proposing certain delegation provisions and certain technical clarifications.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission” or “CFTC”) is adopting final regulations to implement enhanced risk management standards for systemically important derivatives clearing organizations that include increased financial resources requirements for systemically important derivatives clearing organizations that are involved in activities with a more complex risk profile or that are systemically important in multiple jurisdictions, the prohibited use of assessments by systemically important derivatives clearing organizations in calculating their available default resources, and enhanced system safeguards for systemically important derivatives clearing organizations for business continuity and disaster recovery (“BC-DR”). This final rule also implements special enforcement authority over systemically important derivatives clearing organizations granted to the Commission under section 807(c) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”).

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 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 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.

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.