Yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed rules and interpretive guidance regarding the application of the U.S. regulatory regime to cross-border security-based swap (“SBS”) transactions. The proposals also address the impact of cross-border SBS transactions on the registration obligations of security-based swap dealers (“SBSDs”), major security-based swap participants (“MSBSPs”), SBS clearing agencies, SBS execution facilities and SBS swap data repositories (“SDRs”).

The proposed rules also would establish a framework of “substituted compliance” under which certain participants in the SBS market may comply with non-U.S. regulatory regimes that the SEC determines to be comparable with U.S. requirements, in lieu of the rules that would otherwise apply to these participants. The proposed rules will be open for comment for 90 days after the date of their publication in the Federal Register.

The SEC separately voted to reopen, for 60 days, the comment period for all rules relating to Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) that are not yet final. This 60-day comment period also applies to the related SEC policy statement describing the expected order for these rules to take effect.

The proposing release is more than 600 pages long and requests public comment on numerous topics. This post provides a preliminary outline of a few key aspects of the proposals. We will publish a more detailed memorandum on the proposed rules and interpretive guidance shortly.

…continue reading: SEC Publishes Proposed Rules Regarding Cross-Border Security-Based Swap Transactions

Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) enacted a new regime of substantive regulation of over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives under U.S. securities and commodities laws. Over the course of 2013, many key provisions of Dodd-Frank are being implemented by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) with respect to “swaps.” While many of the regime’s requirements focus on “swap dealers” (“SDs”) and “major swap participants” (“MSPs”), commercial entities that enter into OTC derivatives transactions to hedge or mitigate risk, referred to as “end users,” will also become subject to a wide range of substantive requirements.

In particular, end users will need to:

…continue reading: Navigating Key Dodd-Frank Rules Affecting Swaps End Users

Introduction

In the wake of the financial crisis, both the U.S. and the EU have enacted legislation to regulate the “over-the-counter” (“OTC”) swaps market and are in the process of adopting implementing rules that will make such legislation fully effective. In the U.S., Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), enacted on July 21, 2010, provides for the regulation of the swaps market and grants to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC,” and with the CFTC, each a “Commission” and together, the “Commissions”) broad authority to regulate the swaps market and its principal participants. In the EU, the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (“EMIR”) is expected to become effective during 2013 and will create a regulatory framework for the swaps markets in all EU member states.

…continue reading: Implications of New U.S. Derivatives Regulations on End-Users of Swaps

I. Introduction

Almost four years after the financial crisis and over two years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), the overhaul of the US derivatives market is rapidly shifting into the implementation phase. Many of the key elements of Dodd-Frank relating to OTC derivatives will begin to take effect on October 12, 2012, although the CFTC has delayed implementation of some requirements until the beginning of 2013.

Under Dodd-Frank, Swap Dealers, Security-Based Swap Dealers, Major Swap Participants (“MSPs”) and Major Security-Based Swap Participants must register with the CFTC or SEC, as appropriate, and thereafter will be subject to strict regulation. Swap Dealers and MSPs will be required to comply with, among other things, regulations governing minimum margin and capital requirements, mandatory clearing and exchange trading of swaps and security-based swaps, swap reporting and recordkeeping requirements, internal and external business conduct standards and position limits. Even for companies that are not Swap Dealers or MSPs, are predominantly engaged in non-financial activity, and are using swaps or security-based swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk (“End-Users”), compliance with Dodd-Frank presents a significant challenge.

…continue reading: A Corporate End-User’s Handbook for Dodd-Frank Title VII Compliance

On August 16, 2012, the CFTC proposed rules that would permit affiliated swap counterparties to elect an exemption from mandatory swaps clearing, subject to various conditions. These conditions include reporting, documentation, risk management and other obligations, and, for swaps between financial entities, a requirement to provide variation margin. [1]

The Commodity Exchange Act requires swaps that have been designated by the CFTC as subject to mandatory clearing to be submitted for clearing to a designated clearing organization – unless a counterparty qualifies for an exemption from the clearing requirement. In proposing the inter-affiliate exemption from the clearing requirement, the CFTC recognized the risk management benefits and efficiencies that uncleared inter-affiliate swaps may provide for large financial and other organizations, but also noted its concerns about the “systemic risk repercussions” of uncleared inter-affiliate swaps. These concerns are reflected in the proposed conditions that would apply to affiliated counterparties seeking to rely on the exemption.

The CFTC’s proposed requirements for the use of the exemption are highly controversial. In particular, CFTC Commissioners Sommers and O’Malia voted against releasing the proposal because, in their view, the variation margin requirement is unwarranted. The comment period for the proposed rules will end 30 days after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, which is expected to occur shortly.

…continue reading: CFTC Proposes Clearing Exemption for Inter-Affiliate Swaps

On June 29, the CFTC released proposed interpretive guidance regarding the cross-border impact of the swap-related provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. [1] The CFTC also released a proposed exemptive order that would provide non-U.S. registered swap dealers (“SDs”) and major swap participants (“MSPs”) with temporary conditional exemptions from many swap-related Title VII requirements for one year, and permit SDs and MSPs that are U.S. persons (as defined below) to defer compliance with some requirements until January 2013. [2] Comments on the proposed interpretive guidance are due 45 days after it is published in the Federal Register and comments on the proposed exemptive order are due 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, both of which are expected shortly.

The Proposed Guidance

The proposed guidance interprets the cross-border reach of Title VII’s swap provisions. The main impacts would be as follows:

…continue reading: CFTC Proposes Cross-Border Guidance and Exemptive Order

On April 18, 2012, the CFTC and SEC adopted final rules [1] to further define the terms “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant,” and “eligible contract participant.” [2] The rules initially establish the threshold for the de minimis exclusion from SD registration requirements at $8 billion for swaps connected with dealing activity effected in a 12-month period for CFTC-regulated swaps and all credit default swaps and $400 million for other SBS. [3] Importantly, the rules also exclude from the scope of dealing activity swaps between majority-owned affiliates. The Commission also excluded certain hedging activity from the SD registration analysis.

The Commissions generally declined to adopt exclusions from the definition of SD and MSP for categories of persons, including for sovereign wealth funds, agricultural cooperatives and employee benefit plans. Furthermore, the Commissions confirmed that absent a limited purpose designation, an SD registration applies to the entire legal entity and to all of such person’s swaps or SBS, whether or not such swaps or SBS are entered into in a dealing capacity. The final rules do not address the extraterritorial application of Title VII, including whether a limited designation would be available for a U.S. branch of a foreign bank or to separate U.S.-facing activities from non-U.S.-facing activities; instead, the Commissions stated that they will address such issues in future releases.

With the adoption of these rules, there remains one step – the issuance of final swap product definition rules – before the start of the countdown for swap dealer and MSP provisional registration. The swap entity definition rules will be effective 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register, which is expected to occur shortly. For further information regarding the CFTC’s expected compliance timetable, see the last section of this memorandum.

…continue reading: CFTC and SEC Adopt Final Definitions for Swap Participants

This posting, the March 2012 Davis Polk Dodd-Frank Progress Report, is the twelfth in a series of Davis Polk presentations that illustrate graphically the progress of the rulemaking work that has been done and is yet to occur under the Dodd-Frank Act. The Progress Report has been prepared using data from the Davis Polk Regulatory Tracker™, an online subscription service offered by Davis Polk to help market participants understand the Dodd-Frank Act and follow regulatory developments on a real-time basis.

In this report:

• As of March 1, 2012, a total of 225 Dodd-Frank rulemaking requirement deadlines have passed. Of these 225 passed deadlines, 158 (70.2%) have been missed and 67 (29.8%) have been met with finalized rules.
• Major rulemaking activity this month included CFTC final rules relating to swap dealer internal business conduct and a CFPB proposed a rule defining “larger participants” in certain consumer financial markets.

On October 12, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”) proposed, by a 3-1 vote, rules under the Dodd-Frank Act to provide for the registration of security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants (“SBS Entities”). [1] The SEC’s proposal (the “Proposal”) draws heavily upon existing SEC registration regimes and has taken into account the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s registration requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants. Under the Proposal, market participants registered as both an SBS Entity and a broker-dealer are subject to a “similar and complementary registration regime.” To avoid unnecessary duplication, the Proposal would permit SBS Entities that are otherwise registered or registering as intermediaries with either the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) to complete streamlined application forms.

The Proposal departs from the broker-dealer registration regime in what is likely to be its most controversial provision, requiring a “Senior Officer Certification” of the SBS Entity’s financial, operational, and compliance capabilities as part of the application for registration. [2] The Proposal does not include rules permitting registration on a “limited designation” basis, but seeks comment on this topic.

…continue reading: Registration of Security-Based Swap Dealers and Major Participants

On November 10, 2010, the CFTC proposed rules concerning swap dealers and major swap participants (“swaps entities”) under the Dodd-Frank Act. The rules address entity registration, conflicts of interest involving research and clearing activities, chief compliance officer designation and risk management, reporting and operational requirements.

While the proposed rules do not address other key topics, including margin, capital, documentation standards, reporting and sales practices, they provide considerable insight into the CFTC’s vision of how these newly regulated swaps entities will operate. In particular, the proposals impose very tight operational and compliance controls, buttressed by empowered chief compliance officers, independent risk management programs, periodic compliance certifications, tightly controlled new business processes, organizational barriers between certain sensitive functions, vigorous internal audit programs and a high degree of transparency to the CFTC and other regulators. While the proposed rules claim to afford swaps entities latitude to design policies and procedures that are appropriate to their own business profile, they will raise the costs of conducting the swaps business, expose swaps entities to enforcement actions for internal operational problems, and impose challenging organizational limitations.

…continue reading: CFTC Proposes to Register and Regulate Swap Dealers and Participants