Designation under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act for any person that:

(17 C.F.R. §§ 1.3 and 240.3a71-1.)

Federal regulators have determined that these entities could pose a risk to the soundness of the US financial system based on the magnitude and concentration of their swap activity. Swap dealers are therefore subject to an extensive framework of regulatory requirements under Title VII and related rulemaking, including internal and external business conduct rules and other obligations and restrictions (see US Derivatives Regulation: Requirements for Swap Dealers and MSPs Checklist).

A de minimis exemption exists for parties meeting the above criteria that engage in less than $8 billion annually in aggregate notional amount of non-exempt activity, or in certain special cases, lower amounts, over the previous 12 months (see Practice Note, US Derivatives Regulation: Swap Dealer and SBSD Registration Thresholds: De Minimis Exemptions from Designation as Swap Dealer and Security-based Swap Dealer).

Entities that satisfy the swap dealer criteria are required to register as SDs regardless of whether or not they are located in the US (see Practice Note, US Derivatives Regulation: Cross-Border Application of Swaps Rules). As a practical matter, many of the world's largest global financial institutions and certain of their subsidiaries must register as swap dealers with the CFTC.