On November 18, the staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a much anticipated report on the de minimis exception from the “swap dealer” definition, the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception Preliminary...more
On August 6, 2015, the European Commission (EC) adopted new rules that will require the clearing of certain over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate swaps pursuant to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) (the EU...more
On July 21, the staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) published an exemptive letter that provides relief from periodic reporting on CFTC Form...more
On July 13, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) published the ISDA EMIR Classification Letter (the Classification Letter), a form of letter that may be used by market participants managing their...more
On June 10, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) published a second consultation paper on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) to implement the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) requirement that...more
When the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules in June 2014 on the cross-border activities of security-based swap (SBS) dealers and major SBS participants, the SEC indicated that it would reserve the...more
On February 11, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published final regulations that will require Swap Data Repositories (SDRs)1 to register with the SEC (Regulation SDR) and prescribe reporting and public...more
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s mandatory clearing requirement for interest rate swaps and certain credit default swaps has been in place for quite some time. However, the clearing requirement...more
On January 16, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a settlement order requiring Summit Energy Services, Inc. (Summit Energy) to pay a $140,000 civil monetary penalty for acting as an unregistered commodity...more
For the past several years, low interest rates and higher commodity prices have resulted in generally favorable financial conditions in the energy sector, keeping energy bankruptcy activity to a minimum. With the recent sharp...more
1/30/2015
Toward the end of 2014, the staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) issued two letters affecting insurance-linked securitization vehicles: CFTC...more
On January 8, 2015, the U.S. Senate approved legislation, by a 93-4 vote, to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (“TRIA”). The legislation, dubbed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (the...more
1/12/2015
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Covered Entities ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Margin Requirements ,
Pending Legislation ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Terrorism Insurance ,
TRIA
On November 24, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) issued a no-action letter to expand previously issued relief, that is available to “treasury affiliates,” from the...more
On November 10, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation paper relating to the Regulatory Technical Standards and Implementing Technical Standards (collectively, the Technical Standards),...more
On October 31, the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (Division) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a staff interpretation regarding the notification of the right to segregation of...more
On October 1, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) with respect to the central clearing of four classes of interest rate swaps (IRS). The RTS follows...more
On September 3, 2014, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the Board) jointly adopted, with certain federal banking regulators, re-proposed rules that will require registered swap dealers, security-based swap...more
9/25/2014
/ Banks ,
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) ,
CFTC ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Federal Reserve ,
IOSCO ,
Major Swap Participants ,
Margin Requirements ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swap Market ,
Swaps
On June 19, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published a long-awaited standard amendment to Section 2(a)(iii) of the ISDA Master Agreement (the Master Agreement). Section 2(a)(iii) of the Master...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will host a public roundtable on June 19, 2014, to discuss questions related to a proposed rulemaking to establish speculative position limits for 28 exempt and agricultural...more
On June 5, the National Futures Association (NFA) announced the issuance of revised Forms CPO-PQR and CTA-PR. The NFA is the self-regulatory organization to which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has delegated...more
As noted in a previous Sutherland Legal Alert, the American Bankruptcy Institute has formed a Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 (the Commission). To further its goal of proposing changes to modernize the Bankruptcy...more
On May 12, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) issued a staff letter (the Staff Letter) that provides a streamlined approach for commodity pool...more
On February 14, 2014, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) requested that the European Commission (EC) clarify the definition of “derivative” or “derivative contract,” and particularly the definition of...more
Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a request for public comment on its swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements under Part 45 of its regulations. The CFTC adopted Part 45 in 2012...more
Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) certified two additional available to trade determinations (MAT determinations). The latest MAT determinations cover additional interest rate swaps (IRS) and, for the...more