On March 14 2016 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight issued a no-action letter extending the period for relief from the requirement in CFTC Regulation 37.6 that a swap execution facility obtain documents incorporated by reference in a trade confirmation issued by the swap execution facility before issuing the confirmation. Swap execution facilities are also relieved from the requirement in CFTC Regulations 37.1000, 37.1001 and 45.2(a) to maintain such documents as records. Finally, the no-action letter states that swap execution facilities are relieved from the requirement in CFTC Regulation 45.3(a) to report confirmation data contained in the documents incorporated by reference in a confirmation.
The letter extends the relief previously provided in CFTC Staff Letter 15-25, which expired on March 31 2016. The letter extends relief to the earlier of:
- 11:59pm (Eastern Time) on March 31 2017; or
- the effective date of revised CFTC regulations that establish a permanent solution to the confirmation matters raised by the existing regulations.
The relief is subject to terms and conditions in the letter.
A swap execution facility must continue to report all swap data that the swap execution facility is reporting as of the time of the issuance of the letter, as required by Part 45 of the CFTC regulations, even if such data is contained in the documents that the swap execution facility incorporates by reference in a confirmation.
For further information on this topic please contact Donna M Parisi, Geoffrey B Goldman or Azam H Aziz at Shearman & Sterling LLP by telephone (+1 212 848 4000) or email ([email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]). The Shearman & Sterling website can be accessed at www.shearman.com.
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