On September 21, 2012, the CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk sent an e-mail to futures commission merchants (FCMs) and derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) clarifying that beginning October 1, 2012, clearing members (FCMs and swap dealers) will have two minutes to accept or reject trades submitted to the DCO for clearing by or for the clearing member. The CFTC plans to reduce this time limit to one minute 90 days after the CFTC publishes in the Federal Register its final rules on mandatory clearing requirements for credit default swaps (CDS) and interest rate swaps (see Legal Update, Mandatory Clearing for Interest Rate Swaps and Many CDS Proposed by CFTC).

The CFTC clarification amends its final rules regarding the timing of acceptance for clearing which had required acceptance to be done "as quickly as technologically practicable" (see Legal Update, Final Dodd-Frank Rules for Swap Clearing Members Issued by CFTC). It is not clear at this time if the CFTC will issue further guidance on this requirement.

For more on derivatives clearing, see Practice Notes, Mechanics of Derivatives Clearing and Summary of the Dodd-Frank Act: Swaps and Derivatives: Swap Clearing and Exchange Trading under Title VII.