On May 23, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) finalized rule amendments to its recordkeeping rule, CFTC Reg. 1.31, as well as related technical amendments to CFTC Regs. 1.35 and 23.203. CFTC Reg. 1.31 specifies the form and manner in which records required by CFTC regulations must be kept by entities required to keep such records, referred to in the rule as “records entities.” The regulation does not specify the types of records required to be kept; types of records are specified in other CFTC regulations. For example, for swaps, most of the types of records required to be kept are specified in CFTC Reg. 45.2. In general, the amendments to CFTC Reg. 1.31 modernize and make technology neutral the form and manner in which regulatory records must be kept. The CFTC notes that the final rule amendments do not impose any new recordkeeping requirements on any records entity and that existing recordkeeping methods under CFTC Reg. 1.31 remain valid for compliance with the rule as amended. The rule amendments are effective on August 28, 2017.

REQUIREMENTS ELIMINATED FROM REG. 1.31 -

The final rule amendments eliminate a number of outmoded requirements under CFTC Reg. 1.31 (last amended significantly in 1999), including the requirements for a records entity to...