1

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581

Telephone: (202) 418-5000

Facsimile: (202) 418-5521

www.cftc.gov

CFTC Letter No. 13-56

No Action

September 27, 2013

Division of Market Oversight

Time Limited No-Action Relief for Reporting Counterparties from Certain Continuation 

Data Reporting Requirements of Section 45.4 of the Commission’s Regulations with respect 

to Uncleared Swaps Executed on or Pursuant to the Rules of a Temporarily Registered 

Swap Execution Facility

Background

The Division of Market Oversight (“Division”) is issuing this letter to provide time-limited noaction relief to Reporting Counterparties1

from Part 45 continuation data reporting requirements 

for certain uncleared swaps that are executed on, or pursuant to, the rules of a temporarily 

registered swap execution facility (“SEF”). The relief in this Division No-Action Letter is in part 

responsive to requests made by market participants2and is being issued in connection with relief 

provided by the Division to temporarily registered SEFs from certain requirements of Part 43 and 

Part 45 of the Commission’s regulations in a separate No-Action Letter.

3

Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank 

Act”)4amended the Commodity Exchange Act (the “CEA”) to establish a comprehensive new 

regulatory framework for swaps. Amendments to the CEA included the addition of provisions 

requiring the retention and reporting of data regarding swap transactions. Pursuant to these newly 

added provisions, the Commission added to its regulations Part 45,

5 which sets forth swap data 

recordkeeping rules, as well as rules for the reporting of swap transaction data to a registered 

swap data repository (“SDR”).

 

1 As defined in § 45.1 of the Commission’s Regulations.

2

See e.g., Letter from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) “Re: Revised request for 

Division of Market Oversight Staff No-Action Letter Pursuant to CFTC Regulation 140.99: Reporting 

Requirements for Swaps executed on a Swap Execution Facility” (September 23, 2013); Letter from the Asset 

Management Group (AMG) of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) “Request for 

Relief Relating to Swap Execution Facility Implementation and Swap Trade Execution” (September 23, 2013).

3

See CFTC Letter No. 13-55 (September 27, 2013)

4

Pub. L. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010). 

5

Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements, 77 Fed. Reg. 2136 (January 13, 2012) 
2

Part 45 of the Commission’s regulations require a registered SEF to report all required swap 

creation data6to an SDR, as soon as technologically practicable after execution, for each swap 

executed on or pursuant to the rules of the SEF.7 Thereafter, as set forth in section 45.4, swap 

counterparties are required to report required swap continuation data electronically to the same

SDR,

8

in a manner sufficient to ensure that all data in the SDR concerning the particular swap 

remains current and accurate, and includes all changes to the primary economic terms (“PET”) of 

the swap occurring during the swaps existence.9 For uncleared swaps, the Reporting 

Counterparty is required to report all required swap continuation data as provided in section 45.4, 

including when the swap is executed on or pursuant to the rules of a SEF. 

Discussion

The Division is aware that a Reporting Counterparty’s ability to meet its continuation data 

reporting obligations may, in some cases, depend on the SEF’s fulfillment of its obligations

under section 45.3(a) to report to an SDR all required swap creation data for each swap executed 

on the SEF or pursuant to its rules. Additionally, the Division has been informed that a 

Reporting Counterparty’s ability to meet its continuation data reporting obligations may, in some 

cases, depend on the SEF’s fulfillment of its regulatory obligations to transmit certain key data 

elements—that facilitate continuation data reporting—to the counterparties to a swap. Market 

participants have expressed concerns regarding the ability of Reporting Counterparties to report 

full, complete, accurate and timely continuation data for uncleared swaps executed on or 

pursuant to the rules of a temporarily registered SEF on an ongoing basis in light of certain 

operational challenges faced by temporarily registered SEFs.10 In this regard, the Division 

received requests from SEFs for no-action relief from the SEF’s obligations to report certain Part 

43 and Part 45 data.

A Reporting Counterparty’s ability to fulfill its continuation data reporting obligations depends,

in part, on the ability of a SEF to first fulfill its regulatory obligations under Part 45. In light of 

the circumstances described above, the Division believes that time limited relief is appropriate 

when a Reporting Counterparty: (i) is unable to report continuation data; or (ii) reports 

continuation data containing errors or omissions as a result of either: (i) a SEF’s failure to 

transmit required creation data to the Reporting Counterparty; or (ii) a SEF’s failure to report, or 

to cause to be reported, required creation data to an SDR.

 

6 Required creation data reporting must include all confirmation data for the swap, as defined in part 23 and section 

45.1, and all primary economic terms data for the swap, as defined in section 45.1.

7

Section 45.3(a).

8

Section 45.10 requires that all required swap continuation data reported for a swap be reported to the same swap 

data repository that the SEF reported required swap creation data as required by section 45.3. 

9

See generally § 45.4.

10 See Notes 2 and 3, supra.
3

No-Action Relief

In light of the foregoing, the Division will not recommend that the Commission commence an 

enforcement action against a Reporting Counterparty for failure to report required swap 

continuation data or for errors and omissions in swap continuation data reported, to an SDR,

pursuant to section 45.4, for uncleared swaps in the equity, FX and other commodity asset 

classes that are executed on, or pursuant to, the rules of a SEF and for which the Reporting 

Counterparty:

11

(1) Fails to report required swap continuation data due to the failure of a temporarily 

registered SEF to provide the Reporting Counterparty with:

a. the identity of the SDR to which required creation data for the swap was reported;

b. the unique swap identifier (USI) for the swap12; or

c. any other creation data that the Reporting Counterparty requires to enable it to 

fulfill its obligation to report continuation data for the swap; 

(2) Fails to report required swap continuation data for the swap as a result of a temporarily 

registered SEF’s reliance on Section III, Condition (1)b of CFTC No-Action Letter 

No. 13-55;

(3) Reports required swap continuation data to the SDR which continuation data includes 

errors or omissions that are the result of the circumstances described in (1) above, or 

that result from errors or omissions in the swap creation data reported to the SDR.

The Division will extend this relief until the earlier of: 1) such time as the Reporting 

Counterparty can fulfill its continuation data reporting obligations; and 2) October 29, 2013 for 

affected swaps within the FX asset class and December 1, 2013 for affected swaps within the 

equity and other commodity asset classes. Such no-action relief is subject to the following 

conditions:

A. The Reporting Counterparty must inform the temporarily registered SEF in a timely 

manner of the circumstances enumerated in (1) through (3) above that preclude the 

Reporting Counterparty from reporting all required swap continuation data to the 

SDR in compliance with section 45.4, including a description of any related error 

messages received from the SDR to which the creation data for the swap was 

reported.

 

11 Section 45.2 sets forth recordkeeping requirements for counterparties to swap transactions. The limited reporting 

relief provided to the Reporting Counterparties herein does not extend to recordkeeping requirements of the 

Reporting Counterparties.

12 Pursuant to § 45.5(a)(2) a SEF is required to transmit the unique swap identifier electronically to each 

counterparty to the swap, as soon as technologically practicable after execution of the swap.
4

B. The Reporting Counterparty must retain records with respect to all transactions 

covered by the relief (i.e., all transactions for which the Reporting Counterparty relied 

upon relief provided herein) and make such records available to the Commission for 

inspection and production immediately upon request.

This Division Letter provides limited relief to Reporting Counterparties regarding the 

circumstances described in (1) through (3) above in the equity, FX and other commodity asset 

classes only. It is time limited and ends in all respects on October 29, 2013 for affected swaps 

within the FX asset class and December 1, 2013 for affected swaps within the equity and other 

commodity asset classes. 

The no-action relief provided herein contains a collection of information, as that term is defined 

in the Paperwork Reduction Act.13 No-action relief letters are covered by collection 3038-0049. 

In addition Part 45 recordkeeping and reporting obligations are covered by collections 3038-

0088 and 3038-0096. 

The Division’s letter, and the no-action position taken herein reflects the views of the Division 

only, and not necessarily the position or views of the Commission or of any other division or 

office of the Commission’s staff. The no-action position taken herein does not excuse affected 

persons from compliance with any other applicable requirements of the CEA or the regulations 

thereunder. As with all no-action letters, the Division retains the authority to, in its discretion, 

further condition, modify, suspend, terminate or otherwise restrict the terms of the no-action 

relief provided herein.

If you have any questions concerning this correspondence, please contact Stuart Armstrong, 

Special Counsel, Division of Market Oversight, at (202) 418-5095 or sarmstrong@cftc.gov.

Sincerely,

________________________ ________________________

Nancy Markowitz David Van Wagner

Deputy Director Chief Counsel

Division of Market Oversight Division of Market Oversight

 

13 44 U.S.C. §§ 3501 et. seq.