US Agencies Seek Comment On Swap Margin Requirements

On September 3, 2013, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("Federal Reserve Board"), the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") (in consultation with CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish margin requirements for swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants.

The proposed rule, mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act"), would establish minimum requirements for the exchange of initial and variation margin between covered swap entities and their counterparties to non-cleared swaps and non-cleared security-based swaps entered into after the proposed rule's applicable compliance dates. The required margin would differ based on the relative