Open for Business: SEFs Navigate the New Regulatory Environment
On April 21, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Divisions of Market Oversight, Clearing and Risk, and Market Participants issued two requests for comments soliciting public feedback related to the...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) finalized amendments to its regulations governing how CFTC-registered exchanges, clearinghouses and other registered entities submit self-certifications for rule approvals, new...more
Until recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has limited the ability of US persons to participate in election markets. However, recent developments have allowed event contracts to be made available to US...more
Sometimes a small footnote (which technically is not even a part of the official Federal rule) may have an outsize impact on the rule itself. In 2013, subsequent to the enactment of the Dodd Frank Act of 2010, the Commodity...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") recently proposed new and modified conflicts of interest, fitness, and governance regulations for swap execution facilities ("SEFs") and designated contract markets ("DCMs")....more
Editor's Note The following newsletter provides a roundup summarizing enforcement actions, guidance, rulemakings, and other public statements taken by a federal and/or state financial services regulatory agency, specifically...more
Seeking to ensure that designated contract markets (DCMs) and swap execution facilities (SEFs) adequately incorporate an independent perspective, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proposed new rules and...more
Last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced settled charges against three decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols for various registration and related violations under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)...more
On May 17, the staff of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Division of Clearing and Risk (“DCR”) issued an advisory (“Advisory”) that encourages entities using prime brokerage (“PB”) arrangements that provide...more
On April 12, 2023, Tradeweb’s Swap Execution Facility, TW SEF LLC, filed a self-certification for certain overnight index swaps (OIS) referencing USD Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) or GBP Sterling Overnight Index...more
In Short - The Situation: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") staff have issued—and the Commission is now enforcing—a new interpretation of "swap execution facility" that expands the Commodity Exchange Act's...more
In response to changes in business practices, regulations and laws eventually change, too. During the past few years derivatives markets are witnessing this change as it applies to trading facilities as well as to entities...more
Much like taxes and mortality, it is certain that during 2023 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) will promulgate new rules, issue interpretation and guidance, issue no-action letters, engage in...more
On September 26, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) published an order settling charges against Asset Risk Management, LLC (“ARM”), a registered commodity trading advisor (“CTA”) headquartered in Houston,...more
In a first of its kind enforcement action, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) is attempting to hold participating members of a decentralized autonomous organization (“DAO”) liable for alleged violations of the...more
Accurate and timely reporting of swap data is the cornerstone of swap regulation. The CFTC had promulgated its swap reporting rules in 2012, and were after 2012 among the first rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act to...more
This week, attendees at the FIA L&C conference are gathered in Washington, D.C., for the first time in three years to discuss several issues with significant potential impact on the markets. One such issue is redefining the...more
On January 3, 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced an order against and settlement with Polymarket, a blockchain-enabled prediction market that allows users to “bet” on the occurrence of certain...more
As the countdown to the LIBOR sunset enters its final six months, the CFTC staff is trying to help the market transition. With less than six months to go before the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) expires on December...more
Europcar Drives CDS Down a Familiar Path - When Europcar defaulted on its debt, buyers of approximately $100 million of credit default swap (CDS) protection expected significant payouts due to the anticipated low recovery on...more
In November 2020, the CFTC published two no-action letters extending previously granted no-action relief related to Brexit. The relief was intended to provide “greater certainty to the global marketplace” in connection with...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has unanimously approved amendments to the real-time swap reporting rules in Part 43 of the CFTC’s regulations by, among other things, clarifying the applicability of the rules...more
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted final rules on June 25 prohibiting post–trade name give-up for anonymously executed and intended-to-be-cleared swaps effected on swap execution facilities....more
On June 25, 2020, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) held an open meeting and voted unanimously to approve a final rule prohibiting post-trade name give-up for swaps executed anonymously on a swap...more
In the wake of significant market discussion, the CFTC has proposed an amendment to Part 37 of the Commission’s regulations to eliminate the practice of “post-trade name give-up” for swaps traded on certain swap execution...more