December 22, 2015

CFTC Staff Issues Request for Comment on Draft Technical Specifications for Certain Swap Data Elements

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC or Commission) Division of Market Oversight and Office of Data and Technology staff today issued a request for comment on the draft technical specifications for certain prioritized swap data elements and associated questions.

The request for comment seeks public input on 80 enumerated questions addressing 120 data elements for several swap data reporting topics including counterparty-related elements, price, clearing, product, periodic reporting, orders, package transactions, options, additional fixed payments, notional amount, events, rates and foreign exchange. The draft technical specifications include certain swap data elements that are reportable under Part 45 and related provisions of the Commission’s regulations, as well as certain swap data elements that are not currently reportable under the Commission’s regulations, but which have been identified by staff as data elements that – when reported in a consistent and clear manner – may assist the Commission in fulfilling its regulatory mandates, including systemic risk mitigation, market monitoring and market abuse prevention.

Comments received will inform the staff’s ongoing efforts to improve swap transaction data quality and determine whether any clarifications, modifications and enhancements may be necessary for swap data repositories to appropriately transmit this subset of swaps data elements to the Commission.

The comment period will be open for 60 days after publication on the Commission’s website. Comments should be submitted on or before February 22, 2016.

Comments may be submitted electronically through the CFTC’s Comments Online process. All comments received will be posted on the CFTC’s website.

Last Updated: December 22, 2015