CFTC Staff Letter 14-07: No-Action Relief for ASX Clear (Futures) Pty Limited Regarding DCO Registration

U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Three Lafayette Centre
1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20581
Telephone: (202) 418-5430
Facsimile: (202) 418-5547 aradhakrishnan@cftc.gov Ananda Radhakrishnan Director Division of Clearing and Risk CFTC Letter No. 14-07 No-Action Division of Clearing and Risk Group General Counsel & Company Secretary ASX Group Exchange Centre 20 Bridge Street Sydney NSW 2000 PO Box H224 Australia Square NSW 1215, Australia Dear Ms. Harkness:
This is in response to your letter dated September 18, 2013 (“Letter”), to the Division of Clearing and Risk (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”). In the Letter, you request that the Division confirm that it will not recommend that the Commission take enforcement action against ASX Clear (Futures) Pty Limited (“ASXCLF”) for failure to register as a derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) pursuant to
Section 5b(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
Under this requested relief, ASXCLF would be permitted to clear Australian and New Zealand dollar-denominated interest rate swaps (“A$ IRS” and “NZ$ IRS,” respectively, and together, “A&NZ$ IRS”) for the proprietary trades of qualified U.S. clearing participants and their parent entities and affiliates. You request that such relief be effective until the earlier of December 31, 2014 or the date upon which the Commission, acting pursuant to its authority under Section 5b(h) of the CEA, exempts ASXCLF from the DCO registration requirement of the CEA.2 You further represent that ASXCLF is ready to apply for an exemption from