Overview

On July 21, 2010, the President signed into law watershed financial reform
legislation titled the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act").
Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Wall Street Transparency and
Accountability Act of 2010 (the "Act") accomplishes a sweeping reform of
the previously largely unregulated derivatives market. Even once enacted,
however, the full scope of the Act and its effect on the derivatives
marketplace will not be known for some time. The Act provides broad
authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC") or
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") (either the CFTC or
the SEC, as applicable, the “Commission”) to define terms, implement
regulations and, with respect to certain key provisions, determine which
types of swaps and entities will be required to comply with its provisions.
The Commissions generally have up to one year to implement the
provisions of the Act, and certain provisions of the Act, such as the
derivatives “push-out” provision (see below), have an even longer phase-in
period.