Mandatory central clearing is coming to the US Treasury market. Citing the many virtues of clearing — mitigation of the "overall amount of counterparty credit risk," centralized default management, multilateral netting of...more
On September 17, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unanimously approved final rules amending the agency’s swap data reporting and derivatives clearing organization (DCO) registration requirements. The...more
Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (“EMIR”) imposed a range of obligations which can apply to counterparties trading in derivatives, including a clearing obligation, risk mitigation obligations (including the exchange of collateral)...more
On April 18, 2019, the final text amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) was adopted by the European Parliament. The update to EMIR is widely referred to as EMIR REFIT and will come into effect on June...more
On Tuesday 28 May 2019, the EMIR Refit Regulation (the "EMIR Refit") was published in the Official Journal. Relevant entities now have only 19 days to prepare for some of the key changes, ahead of the go live date of Monday...more
Toward the end of 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed significant revisions to the framework governing swap trading through swap execution facilities (SEFs) and designated contract markets (DCMs)....more
A final joint report on the incentives to clear OTC derivatives has been published by the Financial Stability Board, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority has issued a statement on the impending clearing obligation under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The statement is also relevant to the trading obligation under the...more
In a recently published Practical Law Capital Markets Global Guide 2018 article, “Covered Bonds and the US Market,” Partner Jerry Marlatt provides an overview of the two basic models for covered bonds, together with the...more
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), signed into law on July 21, 2010, was the largest overhaul of the U.S. derivatives market in history. While there are still a few parts of Dodd-Frank...more
A Commission Delegated Regulation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union that extends the transitional exemption period under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation for pension funds to comply...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority published an Opinion on Spanish-based pension schemes that are to be exempted from the clearing obligation under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The Opinion was...more
Less than two weeks into the new congressional session, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 239 to 182 the Commodity End-User Relief Act1 (the Bill or House Bill), marking the first step by the new...more
AIFMD – ESMA Updates Q&As and Re-Visits View of Application of Delegation Rules - ESMA issued updated Q&As on 16 November on AIFMD including two new questions and answers on the cross-border marketing of AIFs, clarifying...more
The European Commission published a Report assessing the issues arising from the implementation of the requirements of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. EMIR imposes reporting and clearing obligations, risk...more
The CFTC expanded the existing clearing requirement to interest rate swaps through an amendment to regulation 50.4(a), requiring that market participants submit a covered swap for clearing by a derivatives clearing...more
The European Securities and Markets Authority launched a consultation on proposals to delay the application of the clearing obligation for financial counterparties and alternative investment funds with a limited volume of...more
On June 9, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding an expansion of CFTC Regulation 50.4(a). If adopted, additional classes of interest rate swaps will become subject...more
On June 9, 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed to require additional interest rate swaps to be centrally cleared. Since December 2012, the CFTC has required four classes of interest rate swaps...more
On January 8, 2016, the Division of Clearing and Risk (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued no-action letters providing relief from the mandatory clearing requirement for swaps under Section...more
On October 14, 2015, the Division of Market Oversight (“DMO”) for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued an additional extension of no-action relief for swaps executed as part of “package” transactions....more
On August 6, the European Commission (EC) adopted new rules in the form of a delegated regulation (Delegated Regulation) requiring the mandatory clearing of certain over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives contracts...more
To clarify our intended audience, in the Financial Entity Update we will address issues germane to entities that trade swaps but are neither dealers nor commercial end users. This includes a broad and diverse group of...more
NYDFS Finalizes BitLicense Regulations - On June 3, 2015, the New York Department of Financial Services released its final BitLicense regulations, which it described as "the first comprehensive framework for regulating...more
On May 4, CFTC Division of Clearing and Risk published a letter clarifying that a securitization SPV that is wholly-owned by, and consolidated with, a captive finance company under Section 2(h)(7)(C)(iii) of the Commodity...more