Month: September 2015

District Court Holds that Assignee is Not Entitled to Safe Harbor Protections

 

On May 28, 2015, the United States District Court for the Central District of California affirmed a bankruptcy court order finding that a post-termination assignee of remaining rights under an interest rate swap with a debtor was not a “swap participant” under the Bankruptcy Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) and, therefore, was not entitled to the safe harbors from the automatic stay provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.[1] READ MORE

Changes and Clarifications to Reporting Regime for Cleared Swaps

 

In August, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed a rule amending certain reporting requirements to better accommodate the reporting of cleared swaps.[1]  The CFTC reporting regime, as it currently exists, was “premised upon the existence of one continuous swap.”[2]  However, cleared swaps generally involve the acceptance of a swap (i.e., the “alpha” swap) by a derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) for clearing and the replacement of that swap by equal and opposite swaps (i.e., “beta” and “gamma” swaps), with the DCO as the counterparty to each such swap.  The proposed rule defines “original swap” as “a swap that has been accepted for clearing by a derivatives clearing organization” and “clearing swap” as “a swap created pursuant to the rules of a derivatives clearing organization that has a derivatives clearing organization as a counterparty, including any swap that replaces an original swap that was extinguished upon acceptance of such original swap by the derivatives clearing organization for clearing.”[3] READ MORE

CFTC Proposes Cross-Border Framework for Application of Margin Rules

 

In July, the CFTC proposed a rule for the application of its uncleared swap margin requirements to cross-border swap transactions.[1]  The CFTC recognized that a cross-border framework for margin “necessarily involves consideration of significant, and sometimes competing, legal and policy considerations.”  However, in developing the proposed rule, it noted that it was attempting to balance those considerations to effectively address the risks posed to the safety and soundness of swap dealers and major swap participants, while also establishing a workable framework.[2]  The following table provides a high-level, general summary of the framework under the proposed rule:

DIR_table3

1 = U.S. swap dealer[3]
2 = Non-U.S. swap dealer (including, but not limited to, (i) a U.S. branch of such non-U.S. swap dealer or (ii) a non-U.S. swap dealer that is consolidated in the financial results of a U.S. parent) that is guaranteed by U.S. person
3 = Non-U.S. swap dealer that (1) is a U.S. branch of such non-U.S. swap dealer or is consolidated in the financial results of a U.S. parent and (2) is not guaranteed by U.S. person
4 = Non-U.S. swap dealer that (1) neither is a U.S. branch of such non-U.S. swap dealer nor is consolidated in the financial results of any U.S. parent and (2) is not guaranteed by U.S. person
5 = U.S. non-swap dealer
6 = Non-U.S. non-swap dealer that is guaranteed by U.S. person
7 = Non-U.S. non-swap dealer that is not guaranteed by U.S. person

A = CFTC rules are applicable
NA = CFTC rules are not applicable
SCX = CFTC rules are applicable but substituted compliance is available with respect to the initial margin that Party X posts (but not the initial margin that Party X collects or variation margin)
SCY = CFTC rules are applicable but substituted compliance is available with respect to the initial margin that Party Y posts (but not the initial margin that Party Y collects or variation margin)
SC = CFTC rules are applicable but substituted compliance is available

The following clarifications should be noted:

  • Each of the above references to a “swap dealer” refers to a non-bank swap dealer registered with the CFTC. (The prudential regulators – i.e., the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Farm Credit Administration, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency – have jurisdiction over the margin requirements applicable to bank swap dealers.)
  • The proposed rule defines ‘‘guarantee’’ as an arrangement pursuant to which one party to a swap transaction with a non-U.S. counterparty has rights of recourse against a U.S. person guarantor (whether such guarantor is affiliated with the non-U.S. counterparty or is an unaffiliated third party) with respect to the non-U.S. counterparty’s obligations under the relevant swap transaction.[4]
  • Substituted compliance is available only in a jurisdiction whose laws the CFTC has deemed comparable. Otherwise, substituted compliance would not be available and the CFTC rules would apply.
  • U.S. or non-U.S. status is determined by a particular “U.S. person” definition included in the proposed rule, rather than by the definition used in the CFTC’s cross-border guidance from July 2013.[5] The definition included in the proposed rule is generally similar to the “U.S. person” definition used by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the context of security-based swaps.

[1] Margin Requirements for Uncleared Swaps for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants, 80 Fed. Reg. 41,376 (July 14, 2015).  The CFTC swap margin requirements have been re-proposed and are not yet final.  A prior posting in Derivatives in Review (available here) addressed the CFTC’s re-proposed margin rules.

[2] See id. at 41,382, 41,401.

[3] Although this table, for purposes of simplicity, does not refer to major swap participants, the proposed rule would apply to swap dealers and major swap participants in the same way.

[4] Id. at 41,384.

[5] Interpretive Guidance and Policy Statement Regarding Compliance with Certain Swap Regulations, 78 Fed. Reg. 45,292 (July 26, 2013).

 

Responses to ESMA Call for Evidence on Investment Using Virtual Currency or Distributed Ledger Technology Published

 

Earlier this year, the European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”) published a “call for evidence [on] investment using virtual currency or distributed ledger technology.”[1]  ESMA established July 21, 2015 as the deadline for market participants and other stakeholders to respond to the call for evidence and to submit feedback and any additional information on the following topics:

  1. virtual currency investment products, e., collective investment schemes or derivatives such as options and contracts for differences that have virtual currencies as an underlying or invest in virtual currency related businesses and infrastructure;
  2. virtual currency based assets/securities and asset transfers, e., financial assets such as shares, funds, etc. that are exclusively traded using virtual currency distributed ledgers (also known as blockchains); and
  3. the application of the distributed ledger technology to securities/investments, whether inside or outside a virtual currency environment.

Respondents to the call for evidence included various major financial institutions and significant participants in the bitcoin and virtual currency markets.[2] Among other topics, many responses discussed how distributed ledger technology may be used to record ownership of essentially any type of financial asset. Such a distributed ledger could facilitate nearly immediate transactions and settlement. Several responses also addressed “smart contracts,” in which multiple stages of a transaction could be initially encoded and subsequently triggered by external factors. For example, a smart contract could be designed to transfer from one account to another, at a future date, an amount of money determined by the price of a particular security on that date. A trusted data provider could relay that price, when known, to the smart contract, which then would automatically perform the appropriate transfer of money and terminally settle the transaction. More complex contractual mechanisms, including various legal requirements and ISDA standards, could be encoded into a smart contract as well.


[1] The call for evidence (and related responses) is available at:  https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/consultations/investment-using-virtual-currency-or-distributed-ledger-technology.

[2] Respondents included, among others, ABN AMRO Clearing Bank N.V., CFA Institute, CME Group, DBT Labs, Deutsche Bank, Digital Asset Transfer Authority, ECSDA (European Central Securities Depositories Association), Euroclear SA/NV, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., Krypto FIN ry, LedgerX LLC, Lykke Corp, Modular FX Services Limited, NxtLegal.org, PAYMIUM, SWIFT, and Tradernet Limited.