On November 19, 2012, the CFTC issued No-action Letter 12-32 providing temporary relief for swap dealers (SDs) from certain final Dodd-Frank swap data reporting rules. The relief:

This relief expires on April 10, 2013, which is the date by which all swap parties and counterparties, regardless of SD status, must be in full compliance with final Dodd-Frank swap data reporting rules, as codified in the CFTC Regulations.

SD registration is required no later than two months following the last day of the month in which the entity crosses the specific aggregate notional threshold of swaps to become an SD (see Practice Note, Is Your Client a Swap Dealer or Major Swap Participant? Breakdown of Final Dodd-Frank Definitional Rulemaking). The CFTC also allows entities to voluntarily register as SDs before the specific date on which the SD must register. Before the no-action relief was issued, any registered SD, regardless of whether registration was required or voluntary, was required to begin reporting, upon registration, data for interest rate and credit swaps under the final SDR rules (Part 45 of the CFTC Regulations) and the final real-time reporting rules (Part 43 of the CFTC Regulations) on registration.

However, to provide for a common monthly reporting date irrespective of voluntary early registration, under the no-action letter the CFTC's Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO) and the Commission's Division of Market Oversight (DMO) will not recommend enforcement against entities for failure to report data under the final SDR reporting rules and the final real-time reporting rules for all interest rate and credit swaps that they enter into beginning on the earlier of:

Registered SDs must begin to report data for their new equity swaps, foreign exchange swaps and other commodity swaps on the later of:

In any event, April 10, 2013 is the backstop date on which all swap parties and counterparties must begin to comply with final SDR and real-time swap data reporting requirements for all swaps.

Before the no-action relief was issued, SDs were required to report data for their historical swaps under Part 46 on the same date that they were required to begin reporting current swaps under Parts 43 and 45. However, market participants raised concerns regarding the significant operational and technological challenges presented by requiring SDs to report a potentially large volume of historical swap data on the same day that reporting under Parts 43 and 45 begins. As a result, the DISO and DMO have recommended a transitional relief period that would allow SDs to gradually report historical swaps data over a period of time following the SDs Part 43 and 45 compliance dates. Therefore, historical swap data reporting under Part 46 of the CFTC Regulations is now required as of the earlier of:

For entities reaching the aggregate notional SD registration threshold of swaps in October 2012:

For entities reaching the aggregate notional SD registration threshold of swaps in November 2012:

For entities reaching the aggregate notional SD registration threshold of swaps in January 2013:

For entities reaching the aggregate notional SD registration threshold of swaps in February 2013:

All other swap counterparties, regardless of SD registration status, are required to be in full compliance with swap data reporting rules for all swaps by April 10, 2013. Note that the letter makes no mention of major swap participants (MSPs).

For more information on swap data reporting, see: