CFTC Proposes Adding Certain Interest Rate Swaps To Mandatory Clearing

The CFTC proposed amendments to CFTC Rule 50.4(a) that would require certain interest rate swaps to be subject to mandatory clearing. The scope of this proposal would make the CFTC's clearing requirement consistent with those that were proposed and finalized in 2015 and 2016 by the CFTC's counterparts in Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Mexico and Singapore.

The proposal would amend CFTC Rule 50.4(a) in the following ways:

• adding fixed-to-floating interest rate swaps denominated in the nine additional currencies;
• adding Australian dollar ("AUD") denominated basis swaps;
• adding AUD-, Norwegian krone-, Polish zloty-, and Swedish krona-denominated forward rate agreements;