SEC & CFTC Announce Roundtable on Swaps Definitions

The staffs of the SEC and CFTC announced a joint public roundtable discussion to be held on June 16 to discuss proposed definitions required under Title VII of Dodd-Frank.  The Act provides that the CFTC and the SEC, in consultation with the Federal Reserve, must work jointly to further define the meaning of certain key terms including “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” and “major security-based swap participant.” Title VII also provides for the registration of dealers and major participants, and will subject them to a number of statutory requirements including capital, margin and business conduct requirements.

The roundtable will focus on such issues as:

General parameters of dealer activity.
Application of the dealer definitions among different types of asset classes.
Application of the de minimis exception from the dealer definitions.
Adequacy of the proposed major participant tests.