In the wake of the crisis in the financial markets that engulfed the economy in 2008, in July 2010 Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act1 ("Dodd-Frank Act") to provide the federal government with an array of new authorities to prevent the build-up of systemic risks within financial markets and the potential that any single institution again would be considered "too big to fail." Subtitle A of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act ("Title VII") amended the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA") to establish a comprehensive new framework for the regulation of swaps, including registration requirements, capital requirements, and business conduct standards for swap dealers and major swap participants; mandatory clearing and transparent trading requirements for standardized swaps; comprehensive reporting requirements for all swaps; and enhanced enforcement authorities for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC" or "Commission").2 The Dodd-Frank Act generally directed the Commission to issue implementing regulations within one year of enactment of the legislation. Although the CFTC did not meet the one-year deadline, it nonetheless proposed and issued a significant number of implementing regulations—more than sixty final rules and orders in total—in the span of a few years following the Dodd-Frank Act's passage. Beginning in late 2012 and throughout 2013 many of the agency's new rules for the swaps markets became effective. Further, in July 2013 the Commission issued guidance as to the cross-border application of these rules, which became generally effective in December 2013.3
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Originallly published in the Futures & Derivatives Law Report, April 2014, Thomson Reuters
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