The CFTC's Proposed Margin Rules for Uncleared Swaps – Know Thyself

This is the first installment of the Financial Entity Update, focusing on issues relevant to a broad range of financial market participants that trade swaps but that are not swap dealers or commercial end users under Dodd-Frank. We begin with the first of a series of updates on the CFTC's margin rules for uncleared swaps.

First, a housekeeping note: To clarify our intended audience, in the Financial Entity Update we will address issues germane to entities that trade swaps but are neither dealers nor commercial end users. This includes a broad and diverse group of entities that are impacted to a greater degree than end users by Dodd-Frank (DF) and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) but not to the same degree as swap dealers (SDs) or major swap participants (MSPs). In regulatory terms that are unpacked further below, these swap-market participants are "financial entities" or "financial end users" that occupy the space between swap dealers and