The Proposed Schedule for Dodd-Frank Title VII Rulemaking
Summary
SIFMA and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) provide comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on a proposed schedule for rulemaking by CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia. The proposed schedule addresses the rulemaking requirements under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The groups strongly believe that a successful transition to the Title VII regulatory regime requires a phase-in plan that is comprehensive, transparent and minimally disruptive to the continued operation of the swap markets.
Excerpt
Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20581
Re: Proposed Schedule of CFTC Title VII Rulemaking
Dear Commissioner O’Malia:
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”)1 and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association2 (“ISDA”) appreciate your publication of a proposed CFTC Title VII rulemaking schedule (the “Proposed Schedule”) and your receptiveness to comments on the Proposed Schedule. We strongly believe that a successful transition to the Title VII regulatory regime requires a phase-in plan that is comprehensive, transparent and minimally disruptive to the continued operation of the swap markets. In publishing the Proposed Schedule, you have provided SIFMA and ISDA members and other market participants with critical information that we need to plan for such an efficient and orderly transition.
We believe that the Proposed Schedule appropriately sequences Title VII rulemakings, but is too compressed to allow for an informed and orderly rulemaking process. In our view, any successful Title VII rulemaking schedule must have four components. It must:
- sequence rules to take into account the interdependencies in the Title VII regime,
finalizing rules that rely heavily on prerequisite rules only after the prerequisite
rules are adopted;
- provide adequate time between rulemakings to allow the CFTC and market
participants to devote sufficient time and attention to each rule;
- provide adequate time between related rules for market participants to begin to
implement prerequisite rules and for the CFTC to gather the data needed to
inform related rules; and
- take into account the implementation challenges faced by different classes of
market participants and with respect to different asset classes.