Commodity Futures Trading Commission January 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'') is authorizing the National Futures Association (``NFA'') to receive, review, maintain, and serve as the official custodian of records for notices provided by swap dealers (``SDs'') and major swap participants (``MSPs'') of swap valuation disputes in excess of $20 million U.S. dollars (or its equivalent in any other currency), as provided in Commission regulation 23.502(c).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') announces that on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, from 9:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., the CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee (``TAC'') will hold a public meeting at the CFTC's Washington, DC headquarters. The TAC will discuss: (1) The Commission's proposed Regulation Automated Trading (``Reg AT''); (2) swap data standardization and harmonization; and (3) blockchain and the potential application of distributed ledger technology to the derivatives market.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is adopting regulations to implement a particular provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''), as added by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''). This provision requires the Commission to adopt initial and variation margin requirements for certain swap dealers (``SDs'') and major swap participants (``MSPs''). The final rules would establish initial and variation margin requirements for SDs and MSPs but would not require SDs and MSPs to collect margin from non-financial end users. The Commission is also adopting and inviting comment on an interim final rule that will exempt certain uncleared swaps with certain counterparties from these margin requirements. This interim final rule implements Title III of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (``TRIPRA''), which exempts from the margin rules for uncleared swaps certain swaps for which a counterparty qualifies for an exemption or exception from clearing under the Dodd- Frank Act.