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Posts by: Thomas Mitchell

An End User’s Practical Guide to the QFC Stay Rules

 

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) adopted rules (together, the QFC Stay Rules) in 2017 requiring amendments to certain qualified financial contracts (QFCs). The compliance dates for these rules depend on the type of QFC counterparty facing a “covered entity” (as defined below), and are being phased in beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending on January 1, 2020.[1] Notwithstanding this compliance phase-in, dealers subject to the QFC Stay Rules have been requesting that all of their counterparties, including end users, take action to facilitate compliance as though the initial compliance date, January 1, 2019, applied to all types of QFC counterparties. This article is intended to help buy-side participants navigate the compliance process, with emphasis on describing (i) the various types of contracts that constitute “covered” QFCs subject to the rules and (ii) the various alternative methods for compliance.

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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