Christopher J. Kirkpatrick
Secretary
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st St, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20581
Re: Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception Preliminary Report
Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick:
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”) (together, the “Associations”)1 appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments on the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception Preliminary Report (the “Preliminary Report”) published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or the “Commission”) regarding the definition of the term “swaps dealer” and the calculation of the de minimis threshold as required by Regulation 1.3(ggg)(4)(ii)(B).2
We appreciate and support the Commission’s decision to seek public comment given the impact that any reduction in the size of the de minimis threshold would have on the swap markets and especially on regional banks and dealers that facilitate access of smaller commercial end-users to swaps.
We believe it is important that the current $8 billion threshold remain unchanged and note that maintaining the current threshold is consistent with Congressional intent, as evidenced the House Appropriations Committee’s report accompanying the recentlypassed 2016 spending bill. The language in this report directs the Commission to maintain the current $8 billion threshold or raise it even higher depending on comments received.3 In addition, given that the size of the overall swaps market is about $500 trillion in notional value,4 the $8 billion figure represents only a tiny fraction of the gross notional value of the market. Currently registered Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants already account for over 80% of the gross notional in the swaps market.