Commodity Futures Trading Commission July 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'') and the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') (collectively, the ``Commissions'') are proposing amendments to regulations that establish minimum customer margin requirements for security futures. More specifically, the proposed amendments would lower the margin requirement for an unhedged security futures position from 20% to 15%, as well as propose certain revisions to the margin offset table consistent with the proposed reduction in margin.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the renewal of collection of certain information by the Commission's Office of Customer Education and Outreach (``OCEO''). Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''), Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed or renewal of a collection of information and to allow 60 days for public comment. The Commission is soliciting comments for the renewal of its generic information collection that will help the CFTC satisfy responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''), found in Section 748 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The generic information collection will provide the OCEO a means to gather qualitative consumer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner to facilitate service delivery.

In August 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) proposed regulations that would codify the policies and procedures that the Commission is currently following with respect to granting exemptions from registration as a derivatives clearing organization (registered DCO) (2018 Proposal). The Commission is issuing this supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to further propose to permit DCOs that are exempt from registration (exempt DCOs) to clear swaps for U.S. customers under certain circumstances. To facilitate this, the Commission also is proposing to allow persons located outside of the United States to accept funds from U.S. persons to margin swaps cleared at an exempt DCO, without registering as futures commission merchants (FCMs). In addition, the Commission is proposing certain amendments to the delegation provisions in part 140 of its regulations.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, SEC, and CFTC are adopting final rules to amend the regulations implementing the Bank Holding Company Act's prohibitions and restrictions on proprietary trading and certain interests in, and relationships with, hedge funds and private equity funds (commonly known as the Volcker Rule) in a manner consistent with the statutory amendments made pursuant to certain sections of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (EGRRCPA). The EGRRCPA amendments and the final rules exclude from these prohibitions and restrictions certain firms that have total consolidated assets equal to $10 billion or less and total trading assets and liabilities equal to five percent or less of total consolidated assets. The EGRRCPA amendments and the final rules also revise the restrictions applicable to the naming of a hedge fund or private equity fund to permit an investment adviser that is a banking entity to share a name with the fund under certain circumstances.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) is requesting nominations for membership on the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee (Subcommittee) under the Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC). The MRAC is a discretionary advisory committee established by the Commission in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

On May 16, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) titled Derivatives Clearing Organization General Provisions and Core Principles. The comment period for the NPRM closes on July 15, 2019. The Commission is extending the comment period for this NPRM by an additional 60 days.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected costs and burden.