Note: This version includes an additional section on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015, which amends certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act to exempt certain counterparties from the initial and variation margin requirements –

Dealers and major industry participants may be subject to new margin requirements beginning as early as December 1, 2015.

Regulators are expected to finalize rules regarding margin requirements for uncleared swaps shortly. The Prudential Regulators re-proposed rules regarding margin requirements for uncleared swaps on September 3, 2014 (the Prudential Regulator Proposed Margin Rules), which would apply to swap dealers, security-based swap dealers, major swap participants and major security-based swap participants that are subject to supervision by the Prudential Regulators (collectively, PR Covered Swap Entities). The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) followed with its own reproposal on October 3, 2014 (the CFTC Proposed Margin Rules and together with the Prudential Regulator Proposed Margin Rules, the Proposed Margin Rules), which would apply to swap dealers and major swap participants that are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Prudential Regulators (CFTC Covered Swap Entities and together with the PR Covered Swap Entities, the Covered Swap Entities). Both rules are substantially similar. The new Proposed Margin Rules would modify significantly the original proposals to reflect the international standards issued in 2013 by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which established the international framework for uncleared margin rules. The comment period for the Proposed Margin Rules closed at the end of 2014.