Five federal agencies ("the Agencies") published interim and final rules on margin and capital requirements for registered swap dealers, major swap participants, security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ("FRB"), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC"), the Farm Credit Administration ("FCA") and the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA") published the rules in the Federal Register. The final rule implements Dodd-Frank Sections 731 ("Registration
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SIFMA provided notice to banking regulators (the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC) of a forthcoming change in the treatment of variation margin payments for over-the-counter derivatives by central clearing counterparties ("CCPs"). Historically, variation margin payments have been treated as collateral for outstanding exposure, a treatment that a SIFMA comment letter refers to as the "collateralized to market" ("CTM") model. Going forward, the CCPs will adopt a model by which variation margin payments are treated as settlement
Five federal agencies authorized an interim final rule that exempts particular uncleared swaps from the agencies' respective margin requirements. The final rule was published in the Federal Register.
ISDA CEO Scott O'Malia warned that there might not be sufficient time for dealers and their clients to meet the March 1, 2017 variation margin deadline for non-cleared derivatives.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, European Supervisory Authorities and IOSCO responded to industry concerns about the March 1, 2017 implementation deadline of variation margin requirements.