The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted to adopt a proposed rule under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which would require swap dealers and major security-based swap dealers to provide their counterparties trade acknowledgments detailing information specific to the subject transaction. The proposed rule would require these market participants to: (a) provide a trade acknowledgment to their counterparties in a security-based swap transaction within 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 24 hours of execution, depending on whether the transaction is executed or processed electronically; (b) electronically process security-based swap transactions if it has the ability to do so; and (c) have written policies and procedures in place that are reasonably designed to obtain verification of the terms outlined in the trade acknowledgment. In addition, among other things, the rule would specify which entity is responsible for providing the trade acknowledgment and permit the entity to satisfy the requirements of the rule by processing the transaction with a registered clearing agency. The SEC, which is authorized under Dodd-Frank to regulate security based swaps, has sent the rule out for a 30-day public comment period. Their full adoption would require another vote by the SEC. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is authorized under Dodd-Frank to regulate all other swaps, has also recently proposed similar rules.
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