Amid concerns its data collection and analysis abilities lag far behind an ambitious regulatory agenda, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will embark on a comprehensive review of how it monitors swap market recordkeeping and reporting. CFTC Acting Chairman Mark Wetjen announced the creation of an interdivisional staff working group to review its handling of swaps transaction data.
In December 2011, the CFTC adopted the Dodd-Frank Act’s statutory framework for swap data recordkeeping and reporting requirements.Among the reforms was mandatory reporting of all OTC trades to a Swap Data Repository (SDR). The goal is to give the Commission the ability to identify large swap positions that could have a destabilizing effect on markets. Since the beginning of 2013, certain market participants have been required to report their interest rate and credit index swap trades to an SDR. To ensure that complete swap transaction data is available to them, the CFTC requires reporting counterparties and entities to electronically submit swap creation and continuation data to SDRs.
