CFTC Staff Letter 13-61: 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. 13-61
No-Action
September 30, 2013
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 September 24, 2013, from the Futures Industry Association Principal Traders Group (“FIA PTG”) to the Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“DSIO”) of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”), in which FIA PTG requested additional time-limited no-action relief that would allow firms to exclude certain cleared swaps from their aggregate gross notional amount of swap dealing activity in determining whether they may rely on the de minimis exception from swap dealer (“SD”) registration set forth in Commission Regulation (“Regulation”) 1.3(ggg)(4). 1 Specifically, FIA PTG requests that the Division extend the time-limited no-action relief that it issued on June 27, 2013 (pursuant to CFTC Letter No. 13-37), 2 which expires on October 2, 2013. FIA PTG contends that the extension is necessary because the conditions necessitating the earlier no-action relief have not been fully resolved. FIA PTG requests that market participants who would otherwise be entitled to take advantage of the relief provided by Regulation 1.3(ggg)(6)(iv) 3 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 swap