CFTC Staff Letter 12-60: Time-Limited No-Action Relief for Floor Trader Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581
Telephone: (202) 418-5977
Facsimile: (202) 418-5407 gbarnett@cftc.gov
Division of Swap Dealer and
Intermediary Oversight
Gary Barnett
Director
CFTC Letter No. 12-60
No-Action
December 19, 2012
Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight Re: Time-Limited No-Action Relief: Request that Certain Swaps Not Be Considered in Calculating Aggregate Gross Notional Amount for Purposes of the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception for Persons Engaging in Floor Trader Activities Ladies and Gentlemen:
This letter is in response to a request dated December 11, 2012, from the Futures Industry Association Principal Traders Group (“FIA PTG”) to the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”), in which FIA PTG requested relief that would allow firms to exclude certain cleared swaps from their aggregate gross notional amount of swap transactions in determining whether they may rely on the de minimis exception from swap dealer registration set forth in Commission Regulation 1.3(ggg)(4). 1 FIA PTG requested that market participants who would otherwise be entitled to take advantage of the relief provided by Commission Regulation 1.3(ggg)(6)(iv) 2 be permitted to trade in cleared swaps that are not traded on, or subject to the rules of, a designated contract market (“DCM”) or a swap execution facility (“SEF”) without having these swaps included in their aggregate gross notional amount of swaps transactions until the Commission finalizes the rules governing the registration and operation of SEFs.