On November 2, 2015, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Division of Market Oversight extended time-limited no-action relief to Swap Execution Facilities from certain requirements in the definition of "block trade" in CFTC Regulation Section 43.2. Section 43.2 includes in its definition of "block trade," a publicly reportable swap transaction that "occurs away" from a registered SEF's trading system and executed according to the SEF's procedures. The No-Action Letter extends time-limited relief to SEFs from the "occurring away" requirement until November 15, 2016. Overall, the extension will allow the CFTC continued time to monitor and evaluate SEF trading practices, specifically in regards to pre-execution credit checks. It will also allow the CFTC time to evaluate best practices and create a more comprehensive permanent solution for screening block trade orders for compliance with risk-based limits.
The CFTC press release is available at: http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7272-15.
CFTC Staff Letter 15-60 is available at: http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@lrlettergeneral/documents/letter/15-60.pdf.
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