The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an order of registration to AEGIS SEF, LLC (AEGIS SEF), allowing the company to operate as a swap execution facility (SEF).
With the granted permission, the company can now perform several functions like allowing negotiations between clients and financial counterparties with a request-for-quote (RFQ) function and trading a central limit order book (CLOB).
With the addition of AEGIS, the CFTC now grants permission to a total of 20 SEFs.
Announced on Wednesday, the CFTC’s permission came almost five months after the company filed an application seeking permission to become a SEF.
“After review of AEGIS SEF’s application and associated exhibits, the CFTC determined AEGIS SEF demonstrated its ability to comply with the CEA provisions and CFTC regulations applicable to SEFs,” the US regulator stated.
Support for the Permission
In a separate statement, CFTC’s Commissioner, Summer Mersinger extended her support for the regulator’s permission to AEGIS SEF.
Additionally, she clarified the detailed discussion around some specific rules about SEF swap confirmations in order for AEGIS was not because of some shortcomings in the company.
“I wish to make clear that this is not due to any deficiency on the part of Aegis. Rather, it is due to a defect in the Commission’s rules. A defect left on the books, despite the Commission’s awareness since 2014, requiring workarounds and temporary no-action relief – the antithesis of regulatory clarity,” she added.
In an earlier statement when the company filed for the SEF application, the CEO of AEGIS, Bryan Sansbury said: “Being among the first CTAs to file a SEF application is consistent with our leadership position in the industry.”
“CTAs and Introducing Brokers play a critical role in helping companies navigate otherwise complex bilateral swap markets. We strongly believe all participants in these markets will benefit from consistent pre-trade communication, published rulebooks governing activity, technology facilitating transparency and compliance , and capturing trade details that enable full audit trail/recordkeeping.”
