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  • Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz On Proposed Amendments To Swap Clearing Requirement Exemptions

    Date 14/04/2020

    I support issuing the notice of proposed rulemaking (“Proposal”) to codify certain exemptions from the swap clearing requirement that currently exist through Commission guidance or staff no action relief.  Each of the proposed exemptions is consistent with longstanding Commission policy and the Commission’s experience in implementing the swap clearing requirement over the past eight years.  Codifying these exemptions will provide certainty and transparency for market participants.

  • Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Dan M. Berkovitz On Final Rule Excluding The European Stability Mechanism From The Definition Of Financial End User

    Date 14/04/2020

    I support today’s final rule that excludes the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”) from the definition of financial end user in the Commission’s margin rules.  The final rule codifies no-action relief that has been in effect since 2017 that exempts the ESM from initial and variation margin requirements for uncleared swaps with swap dealer or major swap participant counterparties.  The final rule recognizes the ESM’s status as an intergovernmental institution that assists Euro-area members in financial distress and its similarity to multilateral development banks that are excluded from the definition of financial end user.  The ESM does not engage in speculative swaps trading and its swaps activities are in furtherance of its financial assistance programs.  The final rule provides certainty to both the ESM and its swap dealer counterparties in uncleared swaps, facilitates the ESM’s work in mitigating systemic risk, and poses minimal risk to the U.S. financial system.


  • Statement Of Support By CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz Regarding Amendments To The Clearing Exemption For Swaps; The Final Rule Excluding The European Stability Mechanism From CFTC Margin Requirements; And Related No-Action Relief

    Date 14/04/2020

    In March 2018, I articulated my approach to our current regulatory relationship with our European counterparts in light of their refusal to stand by or re-affirm their 2016 commitments in the CFTC’s and European Commission’s common approach to the regulation of cross-border central counterparties (CCPs) (CFTC-EC CCP Agreement). Specifically, I believe that the absence of the agreement’s re-affirmation in the European Market Infrastructure Regulation 2.2 (EMIR 2.2) directly implied the agreement’s abrogation.  I therefore vowed that I would either object to or vote against any relief provided to, or requested by, European Union authorities until the agreement’s clarity was restored. Since that time, I have consistently voted against, or objected to, any regulation or relief that provides special accommodations to European entities, including the proposed exemption from margin requirements for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) that the Commission seeks to finalize today.

  • Statement Of CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert In Support Of Margin Relief For The European Stability Mechanism

    Date 14/04/2020

    I am pleased to support today’s final rule codifying relief from the Margin Rule for the European Stability Mechanism (“ESM”). The Margin Rule requires the posting of initial and variation margin for uncleared swaps entered into by certain swap dealers, major swap participants, and “financial end user[s].” Today’s final rule will amend the definition of “financial end user” in Regulation 23.151 to exclude the ESM from the requirements of the Margin Rule. 

  • Statement Of CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert In Support Of Proposed Amendments To The Part 50 Clearing Requirement

    Date 14/04/2020

    I am pleased to support today’s proposal to amend the CFTC’s Part 50 rules, which implement the swap clearing requirement of section 2(h)(1) of the Commodity Exchange Act (the “Clearing Requirement”).  The proposed Part 50 amendments would create new regulations 50.75 and 50.76, which would codify existing exemptions from the Clearing Requirement for swaps entered into with certain central banks, sovereign entities, and international financial institutions.