Washington, D.C. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) today issued a staff advisory clarifying certain trading activities may trigger compliance with the swap execution facility (SEF) registration requirement in the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.

This advisory states an entity may need to register as a SEF when: (1) facilitating trading or execution of swaps through one-to-many or bilateral communications; (2) facilitating trading or execution of swaps not subject to the trade execution requirement in CEA section 2(h)(8); (3) providing non-electronic means for the execution of swaps; or (4) currently registered with the CFTC in some other capacity, such as a commodity trading advisor or an introducing broker, if its facility falls within the SEF definition.

A determination whether a particular facility is required to register depends on all of the relevant facts and circumstances of the facility’s operations. DMO staff encourages entities falling within the categories above to review their activities and assess whether they meet the SEF definition, thereby requiring SEF registration. DMO staff also encourages any person operating a facility for the trading or processing of swaps to contact Nancy Markowitz at [email protected] or Jonathan Lave at [email protected] if they have questions about their activities and their potential obligation to register the facility as a SEF.