On May 22, Better Markets filed a comment letter on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) recently proposed rulemakings to amend certain public swaps reporting and related regulations. 

Most notably, the CFTC’s proposals include new provisions that would dramatically increase opacity in the swaps markets by delaying public reporting timelines for all block transactions to 48 hours. That represents more than a 19,000 percent increase in permitted reporting delays for critical swaps market segments. 

The proposed 48-hour block trade reporting delays would severely damage improvements to post-trade transparency, liquidity, risk management, market integrity, and fair competition. That proposed element, instead, would provide unfair, significant, and indefensible trading and informational advantages primarily to just four U.S. bank holding companies that already facilitate more than 87 percent of the reported $201 trillion notional in derivatives within the U.S. banking system. 

Our fact sheet can be found here.  Read the complete comment letter here with additional details on why this element of the CFTC’s public reporting proposal must be withdrawn.