Introduction - On July 18, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC” and, together with the SEC, the “Commissions”) jointly published several final rules (the “Final Rules”) and provided interpretive guidance with respect to the definitions of the terms “swap,” “security-based swap,” “security-based swap agreement,” and “mixed swap” (the “Final Release”). The Final Rules represent one of a series of regulatory initiatives that the Commissions have undertaken in order to provide further guidance and clarity on the parallel regulatory regimes under the federal securities and commodity laws implemented for derivatives by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). The Final Rules will generally be effective October 12, 2012.

The Final Rules revise the proposed definitions published on April 29, 2011 (the “Proposed Rules”).

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