Dodd-Frank... Three Years Later

Third and long for derivatives reform? This past Sunday, Dodd-Frank turned three years old, but lawmakers are still reporting more missed deadlines than finalized rules. According to DavisPolk’s three-year anniversary progress report, just 38% of the deadlines set in the Dodd-Frank Act have been met.

The report states that 172 (61.6%) deadlines have been have been missed, while just 107 (38.4%) have resulted in finalized rules. In addition, 158 (39.7%) of the 398 total required rulemakings have been finalized, while 127 (31.9%) rulemaking requirements have not yet been proposed.

A great deal of the progress that has been made, however, has been focused on the OTC derivatives front, where significant reform is already in effect.  Among the changes already integrated into the derivatives trading workflow are mandatory clearing for category I and II entities and final rules for Swap Execution Facilities (SEFs).  So far, three firms have already applied to become SEFs.  And, as Tradeweb CEO Lee Olesky, pointed out when his firm made its formal SEF application to the CFTC, most of the sweeping changes to the derivatives industry have not caused any discernable market disruptions:

“Though SEF registration is a major step forward for the industry, the growing adoption of electronic trading of derivatives on Tradeweb has been a natural evolution for us since 2005.” 

To read DavisPolk’s full report, click here.

To view an infographic based on their findings, click here.