December 22, 2015

CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight Provides Time-Limited No-Action Relief from Certain Audit Trail Requirements in CFTC Regulations Related to Post-trade Allocation

Washington, DC – The Division of Market Oversight (DMO) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today provided time-limited no-action relief for Swap Execution Facilities (SEFs) from the requirements to capture post-trade allocation information in their audit trail data, as required under CFTC Regulations.

DMO’s no-action relief expires on November 15, 2017, and is subject to the following conditions:

1. The SEF must have a rule that requires market participants to provide post-trade allocation information to the SEF for particular trades, if the SEF, at the request of the CFTC or otherwise, requests such information; and

2. In the course of a trade practice surveillance or market surveillance investigation into any trading activity involving post trade allocations, upon such request pursuant to condition 1) above, the SEF must ascertain whether a post-trade allocation was made, and if so, the SEF must request, obtain, and review the post-trade allocation information as part of its investigation.

During this period of relief, DMO will continue to work with SEFs and other parties involved in the allocation workflow to identify methods for obtaining post-trade allocation information.

Last Updated: December 22, 2015