U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 1b. Requirements of Secretary of the Treasury regarding exemption of foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards from definition of the term “swap”

(a) Required considerations

In determining whether to exempt foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards from the definition of the term “swap”, the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) shall consider—

(1) whether the required trading and clearing of foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards would create systemic risk, lower transparency, or threaten the financial stability of the United States;

(2) whether foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards are already subject to a regulatory scheme that is materially comparable to that established by this chapter for other classes of swaps;

(3) the extent to which bank regulators of participants in the foreign exchange market provide adequate supervision, including capital and margin requirements;

(4) the extent of adequate payment and settlement systems; and

(5) the use of a potential exemption of foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards to evade otherwise applicable regulatory requirements.

(b) Determination

If the Secretary makes a determination to exempt foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards from the definition of the term “swap”, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a determination that contains—

(1) an explanation regarding why foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards are qualitatively different from other classes of swaps in a way that would make the foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards ill-suited for regulation as swaps; and

(2) an identification of the objective differences of foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards with respect to standard swaps that warrant an exempted status.

A determination by the Secretary under subsection (b) shall not exempt any foreign exchange swaps and foreign exchange forwards traded on a designated contract market or swap execution facility from any applicable antifraud and antimanipulation provision under this chapter.^[1]

[1] See References in Text note below.

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