The CFTC’s extension of compliance dates for certain external business conduct rules, portfolio reconciliation requirements, and swap trading relationship documentation rules for swap dealers (“SDs”) and major swap participants (“MSPs”), were published in the Federal Register on January 2nd. The extended compliance dates are intended to provide SDs and MSPs with additional time to achieve compliance with certain regulations. View Release in full here (links externally to GPO website).

The CFTC announced that real-time public reporting of certain swap transactions and swap dealer registration began on December 31, 2012. #8220;Two of the most significant Dodd-Frank reforms began implementation this week,#8221; said Chairman Gary Gensler. #8220;With these historic reforms, the public, for the first time, can see the price and volume of swap transactions, just as it has benefited from transparency for decades in the securities and futures markets. The public also will benefit as swap dealers now will be subject to common-sense standards for sales practices, recordkeeping and

Title 17 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 1 to 199, has been revised to reinstate appendices A and B to Part 160, providing a Model Privacy Form. Effective Date: December 28, 2012. View release in full here (links externally to GPO website).

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) issued a no-action letter that provides further relief for certain U.S. banks that are wholly owned by non-U.S. swap dealers. The no-action letter extends the relief provided in CFTC Staff Letter No. 12-61 to foreign-owned U.S. banks with differing ownership structures, including state-chartered banks regulated by the Federal Reserve or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the prior no-action relief was limited to national banks owned by foreign-based financial holding companies, while the new no-action letter expands the

The CFTC Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight ("DSIO") announced that it is extending the temporary registration relief it previously granted in CFTC Letter 12-15 to certain associated persons ("AP") of futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisers who must register solely due to activities involving swaps or the transition of certain contracts on the Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) to clearing as commodity futures and options transactions. The temporary registration