The SEC has proposed all of its major Title VII rules regulating the security-based swaps market. The authors discuss the current status of this and related rulemakings, the relief the SEC has granted, and the provisions of the rules. They then turn to the timeline for implementation in view of the new administration, preparation for required registration of security-based swap entities, and business conduct standards for registered entities. At each point, they compare the SEC’s approach with that of the CFTC.

Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) generally requires regulation of the swaps market as the Congressional response to the financial crisis of 2008. Title VII splits regulation of the swaps market between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. While the CFTC has finalized and requires compliance with most of its rules under Title VII, very few of the SEC’s rules currently require compliance, although the SEC has proposed all of its major Title VII rules and has finalized a growing number of them. With that trend toward finalization, required compliance with many of the SEC’s rules, long awaited by market participants, may be approaching. Although the recent change in administration and a new Congress have delayed the finalization trend, compliance may not be significantly slowed or altered.

Originally published in The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation on April 12, 2017.