SEC Adopts Clearing Agency Rule to Limit Potential for Overlapping or Duplicative Regulation

The SEC recently adopted a rule to limit the potential for overlapping or duplicative regulation within its security-based swap regulatory regime. Specifically, the rule exempts certain activities of security-based swap execution facilities and security-based swap dealers from triggering the requirement also to register as a clearing agency, which is in line with similar exemptions for broker-dealers and national securities exchanges. In other words, Rule 17Ad-24 would provide exemptions from the Exchange Act term “clearing agency” for certain activities of registered security-based swap dealers and registered security-based swap execution facilities that are also clearing agency functions, so firms conducting similar types of business would be regulated in a similar manner.