Derivatives Clearing Organizations Regulation
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FINAL RULE: Derivatives Clearing Organization General Provisions and Core Principles |
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FINAL RULE: CFTC Final Rule: Process for Review of Swaps for Mandatory Clearing Approved at CFTC Open Meeting, July 19, 2011 |
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| Proposal Date | Final Rule Issue | Effective Date |
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| December 13, 2010 | October 18, 2011 | January 9, 2012 |
| Final Rule Issue | Effective Date | Compliance Date* | Compliance Date, Gross Margining |
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| October 18, 2011 | January 9, 2012 | May 7, 2012 | January 14, 2013 |
| Final Rule Issue | Effective Date | Compliance Date |
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| November 2, 2010 | September 26, 2011 | September 26, 2011 |
| Proposal Date | Final Rule Issue | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|
| December 13, 2010 | October 18, 2011 | January 9, 2012 |
| Proposal Date | Comment Deadline | Final Rule Issue |
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| January 6, 2011 | June 3, 2011 | TBA; 2013 |
| Proposal Date | Final Rule Issue | Effective Date |
|---|---|---|
| December 13, 2010 | October 18, 2011 | January 9, 2012 |
The CFTC approved its first set of final DCO rules related to the Dodd-Frank Act at its October 18, 2011 open meeting. The final rules cover these five proposed rules:
- Requirements for Processing, Clearing, and Transfer of Customer Positions
- Risk Management Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations
- General Regulations and Derivatives Clearing Organizations
- Information Management Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations
- Financial Resources Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations
The final rules follow the proposed rules, with a few revisions. Among the provisions:
- The regulation requires a DCO to maintain sufficient financial resources to "meet its financial obligations to its clearing members notwithstanding a default by the clearing member creating the largest financial exposure for the DCO in extreme but plausible market conditions," and to cover its operating costs for at least one year. The regulation addresses permitted types of financial resources, computation, valuation, liquidity, and reporting requirements. Of note, letters of credit are not listed among acceptable resources for swaps, even though they are currently allowed in futures markets.
- A DCO’s risk management framework must include margin methodology and coverage, price data, daily review, periodic back tests, and other risk control mechanisms (including risk limits, review of large trader reports, stress tests, and reviews of clearing members’ risk management policies and procedures). Additionally, margin will be required to be collected on a 'gross basis rather than on a net basis.
- DCOs will be required to submit certain periodic and event-specific reports, as highlighted in a chart that accompanied the rule proposal.
- All registrants will be required to file new Form DCO with the commission.
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Additional Final Rules for DCOs, March 2012
At its March 20, 2012 open meeting, the CFTC approved a final rulemaking covering previously proposed rules:
- clearing member risk management (View proposed rule);
- clearing documentation and timing of acceptance for clearing (View proposed rule); and
- allocation of bunched orders (View proposed rule).
The risk management, clearing documentation and timing of acceptance proposals were approved at the July 19, 2011 open meeting and the bunched order allocation proposal was approved as part of a package of changes to CFTC regulations in order to incorporate swaps, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.
Video
Larry Tabb - TABB Group [INTERVIEW]
Larry Tabb is the founder and CEO of TABB Group, an advisory and research firm focusing on issues surrounding financial markets. His research and publication topics include trading and trade processing systems, market structure, regulatory issues, and technology trends. He is a contributing editor for Wall Street & Technology and Advanced Trading magazines, and is a frequent speaker at major business and industry conferences. John Lothian News editor-at-large Doug Ashburn spoke with Tabb about the future of OTC derivatives, capital and margin requirements. Published November 9, 2011. For more video, visit MarketsWiki.tv.
CFTC Proposed Rules for DCOs, Not Yet Finalized
Governance Requirements for DCOs, DCMs, SEFs
The governance proposal would require that DCOs:
- report to the Commission when its board rejects a recommendation from of the Risk Management Committee;
- implement rules regarding conflicts of interests and make any potential conflicts known to the public; and
- establish procedures on rule infractions among members, enforcement of financial fitness standards, and market transparency.[1]
DCO Proposed Rules Which Have Since Been Finalized
Review Process for Swaps for Mandatory Clearing
Under the proposal, DCOs would be presumed to be eligible for clearing any swap that is "within a group, category, type, or class of swaps that the DCO already clears." In order to receive eligibility, the DCO must:
- file a written request to the commission;
- prove its ability to maintain compliance with DCO core principles;
- maintain sufficient financial reserves;
- manage risks associated with the clearing of the swap.
The proposal also sets out the procedure for submission of swaps to the commission, as well as the review process for a counterparty to a swap transaction seeking a stay of the mandatory clearing requirement.[2]
Derivative Clearing Organization Definitions, Procedures and Core Principles
According to the summary from the Federal Register, December 13, 2010, this proposed rule would:
- revise procedures for derivatives clearing organization (DCO) applications;
- clarify procedures for the transfer of a DCO registration:
- add requirements for approval of DCO rules establishing a portfolio margining program for customer accounts carried by a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) that is also registered as a securities broker-dealer (FCM/BD);
- make certain technical amendments; and
- update the definitions of “clearing member” and “clearing organization,” and to add definitions for certain other terms.[3]
Reporting, Recordkeeping, Public Information and Information Sharing Requirements for DCOs
This proposed rule outlines the procedures and timeline requirements of the various types of information that DCOs are or will be required to share with the public and with regulators. The requirements are divided into timing categories such as "daily," "quarterly," "annually," and "event-specific." The proposal, which entered the Federal Register on December 9, 2010, also included a chart explaining the requirements.[4]
Risk Management Requirements for DCOs
In the DCO risk management proposal, several requirements were outlined, including:
- creating and maintaining a risk management framework, subject to internal audit;
- measuring credit exposure of credit exposure, margin, price data, and daily review;
- maintaining other risk control mechanisms, including risk limits, review of large trader reports, stress tests, and portfolio compression; and
- if the DCO is deemed systemically important (a "SIDCO"), establishing business continuity and disaster recovery plans.[5]
Note: The CFTC reopened the comment period on March 24, 2011, in order to allow comments after a correction to the wording of a portion of the proposal:
"End-of-day positions for each clearing member, by customer origin and house origin’’ should read, "End-of-day positions for each clearing member, by customer origin and house origin; and for customer origin, separately, the gross positions of each beneficial owner."[6]
Financial Resources Requirements for DCOs and SIDCOs
According to Dodd-Frank, derivatives clearing organizations must maintain sufficient financial resources to maintain solvency under "extreme but plausible" market conditions. The financial resource requirements proposal would direct DCOs to use the following sources in the calculation of available resources:
- margin of a defaulting clearing member;
- the DCO’s own capital;
- guaranty fund deposits;
- default insurance; and
- potential assessments for additional guaranty fund contributions.
The value of assessments would be subject to a 30 percent haircut, and a DCO would only be permitted to count the value of assessments, after the haircut, to meet up to 20 percent of the requirement. The DCO must, on a regular interval, but no less than quarterly, perform the calculations, apply any haircuts, and report results to the commission. Additional reserves will be required for "systemically important" derivatives clearing organizations (SIDCOs).[7]
References
- ↑ Governance Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations. Federal Register. Retrieved on March 14, 2011.
- ↑ Open Meeting on Third Series of Proposed Rules under the Dodd-Frank Act. CFTC. Retrieved on March 3, 2011.
- ↑ General Regulations and Derivatives Clearing Organizations. Federal Register. Retrieved on March 2, 2011.
- ↑ DCO Information Management Chart. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Retrieved on March 14, 2011.
- ↑ Risk Management Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations. Federal Register. Retrieved on March 14, 2011.
- ↑ Risk Management Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations; Correction. CFTC. Retrieved on May 4, 2011.
- ↑ Financial Resources Requirements for Derivatives Clearing Organizations. CFTC. Retrieved on March 14, 2011.

