On February 1, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an order granting Eurex Clearing AG registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The order will allow Eurex Clearing to provide clearing services, in its capacity as a registered DCO, for swaps for (1) US persons clearing for their own proprietary business, or (2) futures commission merchants clearing on behalf of US customers. Before the order becomes effective, however, Eurex Clearing must comply with the CFTC’s “straight-through processing” requirements.

Due, in part, to a delay in the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), Eurex Clearing was not able to demonstrate compliance with these requirements prior to the issuance of the CFTC’s registration order. Accordingly, the CFTC concurrently issued Letter No. 16-04, extending no-action relief previously granted to Eurex Clearing, which permits it to continue to clear proprietary interest rate swap positions for US clearing members.

The Eurex Clearing AG DCO Registration Order is available here.