CFTC Speeches March 7, 2011 CFTC Commissioner Jill Sommers called for: extended and more flexible time deadlines for implementing Dodd-Frank requirements; setting the precise scope of Dodd-Frank with respect to the cross-border activities of foreign banks; harmonizing our rules to the greatest extent possible with the SEC, other U.S. regulators and our foreign regulatory counterparts to ensure that we accomplish the overall objectives of "reducing systemic risk and limiting opportunities for regulatory arbitrage"; Commissioner Sommers also noted that the CFTC is out of step with non-U.S

On June 14, 2012, CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler commented on the cross-border application of Dodd-Frank swap market reforms at the Institute of International Bankers’ membership luncheon. In the first half of his speech, Gensler made two forward looking statements: The CFTC is considering an international proposal to align margin requirements for uncleared swaps as well as reopening the comment period on their original margin proposal. Real-time reporting to the public and to regulators will begin starting as early as September of this year. In the second half of his speech, Chairman Gensler

The Institute of International Bankers (the “IIB”) has submitted comments to the Commodities Future Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) in response to the CFTC’s proposed Exemptive Order concerning compliance with certain swap regulations. The Order, issued July 12, proposed granting temporary relief to non-U.S. swap dealers and non-U.S. MSPs from certain entity-level and transaction-level requirements, and also proposed granting temporary transaction-level relief to the foreign branches of U.S. swap dealers and MSPs. In submitting their comments on the Order, the IIB expressed several underlying

In this letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, the IIB expressed its support of legislative alternatives to the Volcker Rule (Dodd-Frank Section 619). While expressing support for certain financial reforms ("increased transparency; stronger capital and liquidity st andards; and reduced risk to financial stability and to the taxpayer"), the IIB asserted that the U.S. and global economies would be damaged should the Volcker Rule be implemented. Lofchie Comment : The letter from IIB follows a recent letter from SIFMA which also asks that Volcker be revisited

The no-action request from ISDA, IIB and SIFMA to the CFTC requests grandfathering of swap positions by "Legacy Swap Affiliates" so that these entities would not be required to register as swap dealers even if they were unable to transfer or novate existing swap positions to registered swap dealers by the SD Effective Date. Since the novation or termination of legacy swaps away from "Legacy Swap Affiliates" cannot be done unilaterally (generally requiring counterparty consent), many Legacy Swap Affiliate positions will not expire or be novated and transferred to a registered swap dealer by the