The House Agriculture Committee has approved bi-partisan legislation clarifying that commercial end users would not be subject to margin requirements for uncleared swaps under derivatives provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act, HR 2682, sponsored by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) and Gary Peters (D-MI), passed the committee by voice vote with strong support from Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Colin Peterson (D-MN). The legislation has already been approved by the Financial Services Committee on a voice vote.
The Dodd-Frank Act does not require regulators to impose margin requirements on end users and the legislative history clarifies that Congress did not intend to impose margin requirements on non-financial end users. Nonetheless, the legislation was driven by end user uncertainty about whether they will be subject to margin requirements.
At the markup of the bill, Chairman Lucas said that, while the CFTC has followed congressional intent, the banking regulators have proposed to require margin in the form of cash or highly liquid securities from non-financial end users, thereby ignoring congressional intent. Thus, he viewed this legislation as critical to reaffirming congressional intent to expressly and clearly provide an end-user exemption. In this regard, Chairman Lucas noted a letter sent by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) to House oversight chairs stating that the Dodd-Frank Act does not authorize federal regulators to impose margin on end users that use swaps to hedge or mitigate commercial risk.
Rep. Grimm said that HR 2682 clarifies the intent of Congress to provide an explicit exemption on the posting of margin by end users. He emphasized that the legislation ensures that federal regulators will not impose margin requirements on true ends users that use swaps to manage their business risks, like to lock in the cost of raw materials.
True end-users are companies that use derivatives to manage an actual business risk, he noted, generally to hedge against fluctuating prices, currency rates, or interest rates, and not to speculate. Forcing true end-users to post margin can have several negative consequences, he noted, such as the costs of hedging could be become so high that they stop hedging, resulting in a detrimental rise in prices for consumers. Also, capital would be restricted that would otherwise be used for job creation or reinvestment to make US companies more competitive in the global economy. Further, the high costs of hedging could drive business overseas to foreign derivatives markets and could also increase regulatory arbitrage.