Early this month the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released final rules (the “Registration Rules”) for the registration of security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”). The Registration Rules, released more than three years after the release by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) of its parallel rules for the registration of swap dealers, set out the formal requirements for SBSD registration and are instructive for financial institutions that may be required to register as SBSDs when such registration comes to be required.

Timing for Registration and for Related Calculations -

The Registration Rules have little immediate effect. Their compliance date, when the SBSD registration requirement will go into effect, will occur only after the occurrence of several events that, taken together, have not yet occurred, cannot occur for a minimum of six months, and seem relatively unlikely to occur until after significantly more than six months have passed.