On June 14, 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the approval of amendments to Part 45 of the CFTC’s regulations, which pertain to the reporting and recordkeeping obligations involved in cleared swaps transactions. The amendments seek to clarify certain aspects of the existing Part 45 rules, including the roles of registered entities and swap counterparties, and streamline data collection and maintenance. Specifically, the amended regulations:

• clarify that a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) is the reporting counterparty for swaps transactions cleared pursuant to its rules, and in which the DCO is a counterparty and clarify creation data reporting and the use of unique swap identifiers with respect to such transactions;
• clarify which entity has the obligation to choose the swap data repository to which creation data will be reported;
• remove certain reporting requirements with respect to swaps intended to be submitted to a DCO for clearing at the time of execution;
• clarify ongoing reporting requirements, including termination reporting and data provided in order to link swaps; and
• clarify that all swap data with respect to certain transactions must be reported to a single swap data repository.

The majority of the rules will become effective 180 days following their publication in the Federal Register. One element of the rules, the codification of No-Action letters that eliminate daily valuation reporting by swap dealers and major swap participant counterparties, is effective immediately upon Federal Register publication.

The CFTC’s announcement is available here.