CFTC Chair Massad Outlines CFTC's End-of-Year Agenda

CFTC Chair Timothy Massad outlined several initiatives the CFTC will complete before the end of the year.

The initiatives included the following:

• issuing a request for comments on the reporting standards for a list of priority swap fields in order to improve data reporting,

• holding an open meeting on automated trading in order to consider a proposal to mitigate operational risks and minimize the potential for disruptions or other operational problems,

• considering a proposal on cybersecurity to make sure that major clearinghouses, exchanges and data repositories are doing adequate evaluations of risks and testing their own cybersecurity risk protections,

• finalizing rules that set margin for uncleared swaps, and

• considering the finalization of the proposed rule changes related to trade options.

Chair Massad reiterated that it is important to consider whether markets are "working well for commercial end users who depend on them to hedge routine commercial risk," and ways to achieve that objective.