After several years of corporate concern about growing regulatory obligations, including new swap margin rules, the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Timothy Massad reassured Congressional members that the agency was actively maintaining derivative market integrity without burdening corporate end users.
Mr. Massad testified February 10 before the US House Committee on Agriculture, which oversees the CFTC and determines its budget, about the agency’s plans in the year ahead and its recent accomplishments. He also noted toward the end that, “[the CFTC’s] budget is not commensurate with the scope of our responsibilities” following the financial crisis, “as a result, the Commission will be less proactive, less flexible, and less responsive than we need to be.”
Nevertheless, he reeled off several agency accomplishments over the last year and listed a number of priorities for 2016, several of which will impact corporates in various industry sectors. “Continuing with our effort to address end-user concerns, I plan to soon ask the Commission to adopt proposed rule changes related to trade options, which are a type of commodity options,” Mr. Massad said.
Before Mr. Massad’s confirmation as CFTC chairman in June 2014, the CFTC was pursuing new rules, such as those concerning swap margin requirements and position limits that many corporates worried could significantly increase their compliance burdens. Mr. Massad has sought to ease those fears.
“We are also focused on fine-tuning our rules, so they do not improperly burden commercial end users,” he said, adding, “Commercial end users did not cause the financial crisis, and were not the focus of Congressional reforms.”
To that end, the trade option proposal, first issued last spring, would eliminate the obligations of commercial participants to report trade options to swap data repositories, and eliminate the requirement to file “form TO.”
Noting his strong support for the proposal, Mr. Massad said, “Trade options products are commonly used by commercial participants, and this relief will help them continue to do so efficiently.”
He added that that comment letters addressing the proposal suggested eliminating additional requirements on commercial participants, and that he’s optimistic the commission can be responsive to some of those requests. For example, related to trade options are supply and capacity contracts, which end-users rely on to ensure they have the appropriate supply of commodities need to run a business, manufacture a product, or generate electricity.
“I have asked the CFTC staff to look at this. And while again, I cannot speak for my fellow Commissioners, I would support the Commission providing guidance or otherwise addressing this issue,” Mr. Massad said.
Mr. Massad also said he would soon ask the commission to adopt the staff recommendation on cross-border application of new margin rules that were proposed last June. “It addresses risk that could be created outside our borders, but still could jeopardize our financial stability and our economy,” he said.
The rule doesn’t impact corporates directly unless they are designated as swap dealers or major swap participants, but it should facilitate cross border swap transactions that have been stymied by a lack of regulatory clarity.
The proposal for position limits for derivatives and aggregation of positions has lingered in one form or another since before Mr. Massad and the current staff took up their positions at the CFTC. Mr. Massad said the agency is therefore “taking time to listen to end users and other market participants and consider the proposals carefully.” He added the CFTC recently proposed to modify the aggregation provisions of the rules and is considering further modifications.
Among the accomplishments over the last year, Mr. Massad pointed to approving final rules to set margin requirements for uncleared swaps, emphasizing that the rule does not require the collection of margin from end users and instead focuses on “large institutions, where the default of one entity would lead to further defaults by its counterparties…”
The commission also proposed rules to bolster derivative-market infrastructure against cyber attacks and reduce the risks posed by automated trading. In mid-December it adopted significant changes to a record-keeping rule, so that end users no longer have tot keep pre-trade communications or text messages. The commission also clarified when certain agreements that include volumetric optionality provisions are forward contracts rather than swaps.
“These types of contracts are widely used by a variety of end-users, including electric and natural gas utilities,” Mr. Massad said, adding, “By clarifying how these agreements will be treated, the interpretation is intended to make sure commercial companies can continue to conduct their daily operations efficiently.”