IB 

Union Calendar No. 270 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3527 

[Report No. 112–391] 

To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to clarify the definition of swap 

dealer. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2011 

Mr. HULTGREN (for himself, Mr. BOREN, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. DOLD, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. LANCE, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. MANZULLO, and Mr. SCHOCK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

FEBRUARY 8, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. BARROW, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. MATHESON, 

and Mr. ROSS of Arkansas 

FEBRUARY 8, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to clarify the 

definition of swap dealer. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Main Street 

5 End-Users From Excessive Regulation’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE DEFINITION OF SWAP 

7 DEALER. 

8 Section 1a(49) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 

9 U.S.C. 1a(49)) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(49) SWAP DEALER.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘swap deal12 er’ means any person who is engaged in the 

13 business of entering into swaps, and— 

14 ‘‘(i) holds itself out as a dealer in 

15 swaps; 

16 ‘‘(ii) makes a market in swaps; or 

17 ‘‘(iii) engages in any activity causing 

18 the person to be commonly known as a 

19 dealer or market maker in swaps, 

20 provided however, in no event shall an insured 

21 depository institution be considered to be a 

22 swap dealer to the extent it offers to enter into 

23 a swap with a customer in connection with orig24 inating a loan to the customer. 


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1 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—A person may be des2 ignated as a swap dealer for a single type or 

3 single class or category of swap or activities and 

4 considered not to be a swap dealer for other 

5 types, classes, or categories of swaps or activi6 ties. 

7 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—In determining wheth8 er a person is a ‘swap dealer’ within the mean9 ing of subparagraph (A), no consideration shall 

10 be given to any transaction entered into for the 

11 person’s own account for the purpose of— 

12 ‘‘(i) hedging or mitigating commercial 

13 risk; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) achieving the person’s own trad15 ing or investment objectives. 

16 ‘‘(D) DE MINIMIS EXCEPTION.—The Com17 mission shall exempt from designation as a 

18 swap dealer an entity that enters into swap 

19 dealing transactions with or on behalf of the 

20 person’s customers if the aggregate gross no21 tional amount of the outstanding swap dealing 

22 transactions entered into over the course of the 

23 preceding calendar year does not exceed 

24 $3,000,000,000 (or such greater amount as the 

25 Commission may establish as market conditions 


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1 warrant), multiplied by the sum of 1 and the 

2 percentage (if any) by which the Consumer 

3 Price Index for all Urban Customers published 

4 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the De5 partment of Labor changed for the 12-month 

6 period ending the preceding April 30.’’. 

7 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

8 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Main Street 

9 End-Users From Excessive Regulation’’. 

10 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE DEFINITION OF SWAP 

11 DEALER. 

12 Section 1a(49) of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 

13 U.S.C. 1a(49)) is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(49) SWAP DEALER.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘swap dealer’ 

16 means any person who— 

17 ‘‘(i) holds itself out as a dealer in 

18 swaps; 

19 ‘‘(ii) makes a market in swaps; 

20 ‘‘(iii) regularly enters into swaps with 

21 counterparties as an ordinary course of 

22 business for its own account; or 

23 ‘‘(iv) engages in any activity causing 

24 the person to be commonly known as a deal25 er or market maker in swaps, 


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1 provided however, in no event shall an insured 

2 depository institution be considered to be a swap 

3 dealer to the extent it offers to enter into a swap 

4 with a customer in connection with originating 

5 a loan to the customer. 

6 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION.—A person may be des7 ignated as a swap dealer for a single type or sin8 gle class or category of swap or activities and 

9 considered not to be a swap dealer for other 

10 types, classes, or categories of swaps or activities. 

11 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(i) The term ‘swap dealer’ does not 

13 include a person that enters into swaps for 

14 such person’s own account, either individ15 ually or in a fiduciary capacity, but not as 

16 part of regular business activities as de17 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

18 ‘‘(ii) In determining whether a person 

19 is a ‘swap dealer’ within the meaning of 

20 subparagraph (A), any transaction entered 

21 into for a person’s own account for the pur22 pose of hedging or mitigating commercial 

23 risk shall not be considered as part of that 

24 determination. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) The Commission shall by rule 

2 adopt standards distinguishing the activi3 ties described in subparagraph (A) and en4 tering into swaps for a person’s own ac5 count for the purpose of achieving one’s own 

6 trading objectives as determined by the 

7 Commission. 

8 ‘‘(D) DE MINIMIS EXCEPTION.—The Com9 mission shall exempt from designation as a swap 

10 dealer an entity that enters into swap dealing 

11 transactions with or on behalf of the person’s 

12 customers if the aggregate gross notional amount 

13 of the outstanding swap dealing transactions en14 tered into over the course of the preceding cal15 endar year does not exceed $3,000,000,000 (or 

16 such greater amount as the Commission may es17 tablish as market conditions warrant), multi18 plied by the sum of 1 and the percentage (if any) 

19 by which the Consumer Price Index for all 

20 Urban Customers published by the Bureau of 

21 Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor 

22 changed for the 12-month period ending the pre23 ceding April 30.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION. 

2 The amendments made by this Act shall be imple3 mented— 

4 (1) without regard to— 

5 (A) chapter 35 of title 44, United States 

6 Code; and 

7 (B) the notice and comment provisions of 

8 section 553 of title 5, United States Code; and 

9 (2) through the promulgation of an interim final 

10 rule. 


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Union Calendar No. 270 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3527 

[Report No. 112–391] 

A BILL 

To amend the Commodity Exchange Act to clarify 

the definition of swap dealer. 

FEBRUARY 8, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS