Margin and capital requirements for swap entities regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) would be renewed under a proposal published in the Federal Register Tuesday for a 60-day public comment period that ends Jan. 7.
The OCC’s requirements arise from sections 731 and 764 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank). These portions of Dodd-Frank require the registration and regulation of swap dealers and major swap participants and security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants, respectively (collectively, “swap entities”), the F.R. notice explains. For certain types of swap entities that are prudentially regulated by one of the agencies, the provisions required the agencies to jointly adopt rules for swap entities under their respective jurisdictions imposing capital requirements and initial and variation margin requirements on all non-cleared swaps. Swap entities that are prudentially regulated by the agencies and therefore subject to the proposed rule are referred to in the notice as “covered swap entities.”
The OCC estimates its requirement affect about 10 entities, with a total annual burden estimate of 17,390 hours. Comments are invited on:
(a) whether the information collections are necessary for the proper performance of the OCC’s functions, including whether the information has practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the OCC’s estimates of the burden of the information collections, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
(d) ways to minimize the burden of information collections on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and
(e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.
The proposal provides a section-by-section analysis of the requirements.