The Division of Market Oversight (“Division” or “DMO”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) is providing a no-action position regarding the requirements in section 2(h)(8) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”) and Commission regulation 37.9, for credit default swaps (“CDS”) that are executed for the sole purpose of migrating open CDS positions from ICE Clear Europe Ltd. (“ICEU”) to a new central clearing counterparty (“CCP”) ahead of ICEU’s planned discontinuation of CDS clearing services in October 2023.

DMO is providing time-limited relief from the trade execution requirement in order to facilitate the orderly transition from swaps that reference the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other interbank offered rates to swaps that reference alternative benchmarks.  (ARRC No-Action Relief Extension Request)

No-action letter extending relief from section 2(h)(8) of the Commodity Exchange Act for any eligible affiliate counterparty that executes a swap transaction with another eligible affiliate counterparty

No-action relief permitting an FCM clearing member to, in the event of a customer default, effect swap transactions pursuant to LCH’s default rules and procedures without executing such transactions on a SEF, exempt SEF, or DCM as required by the trade execution requirement.

The Divisions do not interpret Sections (2)(h)(1) and 2(h)(8) of the CEA as subjecting to the clearing and trade execution requirements certain swaps transactions entered into by a DCO to reduce and manage the risk associated with a clearing member default.

Extension of No-Action Relief from Sections 2(h)(8) and 5(d)(9) of the Commodity Exchange Act and from Commission Regulations 37.3(a)(2) and 37.9 for Swaps Executed as Part of Certain Package Transactions.

DMO is providing time-limited relief from the trade execution requirement in order to facilitate the orderly transition from swaps that reference the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other interbank offered rates to swaps that reference alternative benchmarks.