The EU-US standoff over CCP equivalence looks set to continue despite the personal intervention of CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad. Following his two day visit to Brussels this week, armed with charts and calculations, the joint “progress” statement by Chairman Massad and EC Financial Chief Jonathan Hill is notable more for its minimalism than substantive content. […]

The CFTC yesterday extended relief originally granted by 14 August 2014’s No-Action Letter 14-108, granting relief for SEFs with respect to recordkeeping and confirmation obligations for uncleared swaps. Readers will recall that 14-408 had two branches: delayed enforcement of requirements laid down by Commission Regulation 37.6(b)- that a SEF “provide each counterparty to a transaction…with […]

ISDA has requested feedback regarding whether to update its General Disclosure Statement for Transactions. The 43 page General Disclosure forms the main body of a market-standard documentation suite intended to assist with risk disclosure requirements mandated by the CFTC’s External Business Conduct Rules (Rules 23.431, 23.450(g) and 23.605(e)). It is appended by a series of […]

From midnight tonight the 24 current SEFs will have precisely 195 days to comply with the CFTC’s Footnote 195 guidance . From midnight EST on 30 September 2015, SEFs will have to hold complete copies of all documentation affecting their clients’ uncleared trades, “glean” information and report it to an SDR. The genesis of Footnote […]

In his keynote address before the Institute of International Bankers, CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad yesterday revisited some familiar themes. Under his leadership, the “new” CFTC cannot be accused of a lack of consistency. It is nevertheless a useful recap of the CFTC’s priorities as they begin the task of “fine-tuning” the discordant Dodd-Frank orchestra. A […]

On 26 January 2015, ISDA published a position paper on CCP Default Management, Recovery and Continuity: A Proposed Recovery Framework. The proposed framework reiterates the preference for recovery over resolution. Typically, a recovery is led by the CCP itself, while a resolution must be orchestrated by the relevant resolution authority. If the CCP successfully handles its […]

The CFTC is to provide an encore to one of its longer-running sagas, announcing yesterday that it will reopen the comments period on its position limits rulemaking. The new period begins today and remains open for 45 days.  The move is in anticipation of questions and comments that may arise from the Commission’s Agricultural Advisory […]

J. Christopher Giancarlo has made his views of the Agency’s previous work very clear- he hates it in detail, spitting his dummy so far out that it may well be irretrievable. The Republican CFTC Commissioner, speaking from his ex-practitioner’s podium, has issued a nine page broadside against the regulator’s implementation of Dodd-Frank’s essentially benign intentions. […]

Following Chairman Timothy Massad’s 5 November speech, alluding to an extension of no-action relief with respect to swap packages, the CFTC yesterday issued Letter No. 14-137. The letter revisits the expiration of relief for the most basic package categories and institutes a new calendar of phased-in relief for the remaining package types.  The relief serves […]