A person is a swap dealer if it does any of the following1. It holds itself out as a dealer in swaps. It makes a market in swaps. It regularly enters into swaps with counterparties for its own account as an ordinary course of business. It engages in activity that makes it commonly known in the trade as a dealer or market maker in swaps. Registered swap dealers are subject to rules on capital and margin, business conduct, and recordkeeping.
An insured depository institution that offers a swap to a customer in connection with originating a loan is excluded. A person that deals in only a de minimis quantity of swaps is excluded by the CFTC, under criteria that CFTC rules set.
For security-based swaps, the corresponding category is the security-based swap dealer, which registers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Notes
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CEA section 1a(49). ↩