New CFTC Final Rule on Pre-Dodd-Frank and Transition
Swaps
On Friday, May 18, 2012, the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (the "CFTC") approved a final rule on swap
data recordkeeping and reporting requirements for counterparties to
swaps executed prior to passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act")
and those entered into between the law's enactment date and the
applicable compliance date for swap data recordkeeping and
reporting. The rule specifies what records must be kept and
what data must be reported.
CFTC Proposes New Aggregation Rule for Futures and Swaps
Limits
On Friday, May 18, 2012, the CFTC approved a notice of proposed
rulemaking that would modify the CFTC's aggregation provisions
for limits on speculative positions. The proposed rulemaking
would permit any person with a greater than 10 percent ownership or
equity interest in an entity to disaggregate the owned entity's
positions, provided there are protections and firewalls in place to
ensure trading decisions are made independently of one another.
Rules and Guidance on CFTC and SEC Swap
Definitions
On Wednesday, May 23, 2012, the CFTC and the Securities and
Exchange Commission, in consultation with the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System (the "Fed"), adopted new rules
and interpretive guidance under the Commodity Exchange Act (the
"CEA") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the
"Exchange Act") pursuant to Sections 721 and 761 of the
Dodd-Frank Act. The rules and interpretive guidance further
define the terms "swap dealer," "security-based swap
dealer," "major swap participant," "major
security-based swap participant," and "eligible contract
participant" as the terms are used in the CEA and Exchange
Act.
On Wednesday, May 30, 2012, the Fed announced the approval of a
final rule outlining the procedures for securities holding
companies ("SHCs") to elect to be supervised by the Fed
pursuant to Section 618 of the Dodd-Frank Act. An SHC is a
nonbank company that owns at least one registered broker or dealer.
The Dodd-Frank Act eliminated the previous supervision
framework that applied to SHCs under the Securities and Exchange
Commission and permitted SHCs to be supervised by the Fed. An
SHC may seek supervision by the Fed to meet requirements by a
regulator in another country that the firm be subject to
comprehensive, consolidated supervision in the United States in
order to operate in that other country.
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In November 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation.
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