CFTC advisory body backs six-month initial margin ‘grace period’

Majority vote to recommend extra six-month extension for phases five and six of initial margin rules

Photo: John Harrington

An influential US steering group has voted to back a six-month “grace period” for the final two phases of initial margin rules for non-cleared derivatives. The extension would be in addition to the already announced one-year deferral of phases five and six of the requirements.

The result of the vote saw 17 out of the 22 members of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets Advisory Committee recommend that the regulator implement the extension.

The CFTC regulates only a small