CFTC Issues Proposed Rules Regarding The Cross-Border Application Of Its Uncleared Swaps Margin Requirements

 On June 29, 2015, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") issued proposed rules ("Proposed Rules") regarding the cross-border application of its proposed uncleared swaps margin rules issued last October. The Proposed Rules are open for public comment until 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is forthcoming. The Proposed Rules are available here.

I. Background

In the October proposal, the CFTC included an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("ANPR"), but did not propose rules, addressing the cross-border application of the uncleared swaps margin rules. The ANPR requested comment on three possible alternative approaches: (1) a transaction-level approach consistent with the CFTC's Cross-Border Guidance, (2) an approach that is consistent with the approach proposed by the Prudential Regulators¹ in their uncleared swaps margin proposal from September 2014, and (3) an entity-level approach that would apply the margin rules at the