Available to trade: row over scope of Dodd-Frank execution rules

The Dodd-Frank Act requires cleared over-the-counter trades to be executed on an exchange or swap execution facility – as long as at least one venue makes the swap available to trade. So, who gets to decide when a swap meets that criterion? Peter Madigan reports

Christian Martin

There are 359,959 words in the Dodd-Frank Act. Six of those words are given over to the phrase “available to trade”, repeated twice. On that basis, it might look like the phrase is no big deal. In fact, it looks set to play a pivotal role in determining how cleared over-the-counter derivatives are executed – and the past two months have seen a heated debate between dealers, clients and trading venues, after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued proposals that tried to clarify