On October 16, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC) proposed rules1 that, if finalized, would delay by
one year the date by which swap dealers must comply with the
CFTC’s initial margin (IM) requirements in connection with
uncleared swaps with certain smaller financial end users. Comments
on the Proposed Rules are due by December 23, 2019.
Under the existing phase-in schedule for the CFTC’s margin
rules for uncleared swaps, September 1, 2020 is the compliance date
for IM requirements for swaps between swap dealers and financial
end users2 that, combined with their relevant
affiliates, have $0.75 trillion or less in average daily aggregate
notional amount of uncleared swaps, uncleared security-based swaps,
foreign exchange forwards and foreign exchange swaps. The Proposed
Rules would divide such financial end users into two groups. For
one group, consisting of financial end users with more than $50
billion (but $0.75 trillion or less) in average daily
