The CFTC approved a final rule on December 18, 2025, that codifies existing staff no-action positions and eliminates duplicative business conduct and documentation requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants. This rule resolves over a decade of regulatory uncertainty, reduces operational costs, and harmonizes CFTC requirements with SEC and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board standards.
What Changed
The final rule introduces the following substantive amendments:
Exceptions for Swaps Intended to be Cleared (ITBC Swaps)
Swap dealers and major swap participants are exempted from certain External Business Conduct Standards and swap trading relationship documentation requirements when executing swaps that are intended by the parties to be cleared contemporaneously with execution.
Suggested Considerations
- *Immediate Actions (Pre-Implementation)
- *Implementation Actions (Upon Effective Date)
- trade disclosure systems to remove PTMMM generation and delivery requirements
- based operations, review implications of superseded Staff Letter No. 23-01
- *Ongoing Compliance
Key Dates
- CFTC Staff Letter 25-09 issued, establishing no-action position on PTMMM requirement
- CFTC issued further amended exemptive order permitting JSCC to clear interest rate swaps
- CFTC issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (comment period opened)
- Comment period deadline (ISDA and SIFMA submitted comments on this date)
- CFTC approved final rule (subject to pre-publication technical corrections)
Compliance Impact
Urgency: HIGH