CFTC Approves 18 SEFs, 5 Still Waiting

360 Trading Networks, BGC Derivatives Markets, Bloomberg SEF, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), DW SEF, GFI Swaps Exchange, Icap Global Derivatives, Icap SEF, ICE Swap Trade, Javelin SEF, LatAm SEF, MarketAxess SEF, SwapEx, Thomson Reuters (SEF), tpSEF, Tradition SEF, trueEX and TW SEF have all been granted regulatory approval.

Some Still Waiting

There are still five SEFs operating under temporary registration status. Clear Markets North America, FTSEF, GTX SEF, LedgerX and TeraExchange are all still classified as "temporarily registered" on CFTC's website.

Those five SEFs have not necessarily been denied registration. In the press release, the regulatory body said it would continue to review registration, and the SEFs are permitted to continue to operate under temporary registration.

Of the five SEFs pending registration, TeraExchange has been operating under temporary registration the longest, having been granted that status as of Sept. 19, 2013. GTX SEF (April 17, 2014) and Clear Markets North America (May 13, 2014) have also held temporary registration status for over a year.

LedgerX (Sept. 8, 2015) and FTSEF (Jan. 6) have both held temporary registration for less than six months.

Marie Giangrande, a spokesperson for LedgerX, declined to comment, citing compliance issues and the application still being under review.

Jim Tolve, director of marketing and public relations at FlexTrade, which runs FTSEF, tells WatersTechnology the firm is still in the early stages of the registration process.

"We just got the temporary registration status. There are additional steps in the review process. We'll go through that with the CFTC. That's about it," Tolve says. "We're comfortable with where we are and how things are moving forward. No problems on this end. ... It would be quite unique if after getting (temporary registration) three weeks ago all of a sudden we were fully registered."

The three other SEFs did not return requests for comment as of the writing of this story.

Three SEFs, EOX Exchange, INFX SEF and SDX Trading, have withdrawn their registration to the CFTC over the past year, according to the CFTC website. Seed SEF's status is listed as "draft."

The announcement falls in line with statements Timothy Massad, chairman of the CFTC, made in October at Sefcon VI. He said the regulators planned on granting permanent registration status to SEFs waiting for approval by early 2016. Massad said the CFTC would wait to make an announcement regarding registration until a decision on several the SEFs awaiting approval had been made.