Commodity Futures Trading Commission July 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The OCC, Board, FDIC, SEC, and CFTC (together, the agencies) are adopting amendments to the regulations implementing section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act (BHC Act). Section 13 contains certain restrictions on the ability of a banking entity or nonbank financial company supervised by the Board to engage in proprietary trading and have certain interests in, or relationships with, a hedge fund or private equity fund (covered funds). These final amendments are intended to improve and streamline the regulations implementing section 13 of the BHC Act by modifying and clarifying requirements related to the covered fund provisions of the rules.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is adopting amendments to Commission regulation 50.52, which exempts certain affiliated entities within a corporate group from the swap clearing requirement under the applicable provision of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or Act). These amendments concern the anti-evasionary condition that swaps subject to the clearing requirement entered into with unaffiliated counterparties either be cleared or be eligible for an exception to or exemption from the clearing requirement. Specifically, the amendments make permanent certain temporary alternative compliance frameworks intended to make this anti-evasionary condition workable for international corporate groups in the absence of foreign clearing regimes determined to be comparable to CFTC requirements.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed renewal of a collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''), Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and to allow 60 days for public comment. This notice solicits comments on proposed extension of the existing collection of information relating to Cleared Swaps Customer Collateral.

On December 17, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or the ``Commission'') published a notice of proposed rulemaking, Regulation Automated Trading (``Regulation AT NPRM''). On November 25, 2016, the Commission issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to modify certain rules in the Regulation AT NPRM (``Supplemental Regulation AT NPRM''). In light of feedback the Commission received in response to the Regulation AT NPRM and Supplemental Regulation AT NPRM (together, the ``Regulation AT NPRMs''), the Commission has determined to withdraw the Regulation AT NPRMs and reject certain policy approaches relating to the regulation of automated trading contained therein.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is seeking comment on a proposed amendment to the margin requirements for uncleared swaps for swap dealers (``SD'') and major swap participants (``MSP'') for which there is no prudential regulator (the ``CFTC Margin Rule''). As adopted in January 2016, the CFTC Margin Rule, which mandates the collection and posting of variation margin and initial margin (``IM''), was to take effect under a phased compliance schedule extending from September 1, 2016, to September 1, 2020. On April 9, 2020, the Commission published in the Federal Register a final rule extending the September 1, 2020 compliance date by one year to September 1, 2021, for a portion of what was to be the final phase consisting of entities with smaller average daily aggregate notional amounts of swaps and certain other financial products (the ``Smaller Portfolio Group'') to reduce the potential market disruption that could result from a large number of entities coming into the scope of compliance on September 1, 2020 (``April 2020 Final Rule''). Subsequently, on May 28, 2020, to mitigate the operational challenges faced by certain entities subject to the CFTC Margin Rule as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (``COVID-19'') pandemic, the Commission adopted an interim final rule (the ``IFR'') extending the September 1, 2020 compliance date for certain entities by one year (``IFR Extension Group'') to September 1, 2021. This rulemaking proposal (``Proposal'') would further delay the compliance date for the Smaller Portfolio Group from September 1, 2021, to September 1, 2022, to avoid market disruption due to a large number of entities being required to comply by September 1, 2021, under the revised compliance schedule.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) is adopting as final (Final Rule) an amendment to Regulation 4.13, which contains the regulations applicable to commodity pool operators (CPOs) and commodity trading advisors. The Final Rule generally prohibits persons who have, or whose principals have, in their backgrounds any of the statutory disqualifications listed in section 8a(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA or the Act) from claiming a CPO registration exemption under Regulation 4.13. Specifically, the Final Rule will require any person filing a notice claiming such exemption to represent that, subject to limited exceptions, neither the claimant nor any of its principals has in their backgrounds a CEA section 8a(2) disqualification that would require disclosure, if the claimant sought registration with the Commission.

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 Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), of 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.