The staffs of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced that they intend to hold a two-day joint public roundtable on May 2-3, 2011, to discuss the schedule for implementing final rules for swaps and security-based swaps under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The Dodd-Frank Act gives the CFTC and SEC certain flexibility to set effective dates and a schedule for compliance with rules implementing Title VII of the Act, which involves oversight of swaps and security-based swaps, so that market participants have time to develop the policies, procedures, systems and processes needed to comply with the new regulatory requirements.
Public comments on Title VII have helped inform the Commissions as to what requirements can be met sooner and which ones will take more time. The roundtable is intended to supplement the comments received to date and help inform the Commissions as they proceed with rulemaking. The order in which the Commissions finalize the rules need not determine the order in which the rules become effective or the applicable compliance dates.
The roundtable will provide the public with the opportunity to comment on whether to phase implementation of the new requirements based on factors such as: the type of swap or security-based swap, including by asset class; the type of market participants that engage in such trades; the speed with which market infrastructures can meet the new requirements; and whether registered market infrastructures or participants might be required to have policies and procedures in place ahead of compliance with such policies and procedures by non-registrants.
The roundtable is expected to include panel discussions of (1) compliance dates for new rules for existing trading platforms and clearinghouses and the registration and compliance with rules for new platforms, such as swap and security-based swap execution facilities, and data repositories for swaps and security-based swaps; (2) compliance dates for new requirements for dealers and major participants in swaps and security-based swaps; (3) implementation of clearing mandates; (4) compliance dates for financial entities such as hedge funds, asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds subject to a clearing mandate and other requirements; and (5) considerations with regard to non-financial end users.
The roundtable will be held from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm each day in the Conference Center at the CFTC’s Headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC. The discussion will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. Members of the public also may listen by telephone.
Public comment files have been set up to receive input on the effective dates and phased implementation for compliance with final rules. Members of the public wishing to comment may do so by:
CFTC: visit http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments/CommentForm.aspx?id=1000 and submit comments through the CFTC’s website.
SEC: by email to rule-comments@sec.gov (all emails must reference the file number 4-625 in the subject field) or through the comment form available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/other.shtml.
All submissions provided to the CFTC or SEC in any form may be published on the website of the respective agency, without review and without removal of personal identifying information.
