On Tuesday, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) issued a policy statement regarding the release of data contained in the DTCC Trade Information Warehouse (the “Warehouse”) on virtually all of the outstanding credit default swaps (CDS) traded globally, which includes approximately “2.3 million contracts from trading counterparties located in 52 countries” and “covering credit obligations of entities located in more than 90 countries around the world.” In February 2010, the Warehouse was approved to become a Federal Reserve member, subject to direct oversight by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the New York State Banking Department.
The Warehouse policy indicates that “all interested regulators should have unfettered access to Warehouse information necessary in furtherance of their respective regulatory missions.” To provide regulators with the ability to obtain immediate access to relevant Warehouse data, DTCC is currently developing special regulator access protocols and is awaiting guidance from the global OTC Derivatives Regulators’ Forum regarding how the Warehouse should evaluate requests for information from regulatory authorities.
DTCC notes that in an attempt to protect confidential and proprietary client information, it usually did not provide specific counterparty information in response to regulatory requests unless DTCC has received the consent of such counterparty. However, in an important development, the DTCC has announced global regulators will be able to obtain counterparty names in both aggregate and trade-level information, “if the requesting regulator or other governmental entity affirms that it has a material interest in that information in furtherance of its regulatory or governmental responsibilities.”
