On October 26, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued an order postponing the automatic lowering of the swap dealer de minimis threshold. Instead of dropping from $8 billion in notional value (measured over the prior 12-month period) to $3 billion on December 31, 2018, which would have required firms to begin tracking swap activity on January 1, 2018, the threshold will drop on December 31, 2019, unless the CFTC determines to change the threshold prior to this date. Thus, firms will not have to start tracking swap activity for the $3 billion threshold until January 1, 2019; firms will, of course, need to track for the $8 billion threshold. Chairman Giancarlo forecast this delay in his appearance before the House Committee on Agriculture on October 11, 2017, testifying that he would seek the delay because he wanted “to get the right result, not a rushed result,” and noting that recent turnover in the Commission made it difficult to implement “such an important decision in a rush.” However, Chairman Giancarlo indicated that no further delays were expected, and that the CFTC would establish a de minimis threshold in the first half of 2018.
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