Former CFTC Commish to Head U.S. Swap Data Repository

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has appointed former Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner (CFTC) Michael Dunn as the non-executive chairman of the company’s U.S. Swap Data Repository (SDR), effective May 12.

Dunn will report to DTCC president and chief executive-elect Michael Bodson, recently named to succeed Donald Donahue in July.

The DTCC says that Dunn will play an instrumental role in the development of its U.S. SDR, ensuring open lines of communication with its clients, regulators and industry partners.

His responsibilities will include developing procedures and policies to ensure that the U.S. SDR is fully and effectively compliant with both the spirit and the letter of existing regulation. Further, he will work with global regulators to harmonize the various international reporting constituencies.

“This appointment is a key part of DTCC’s long-term strategy to effectively and seamlessly build our U.S. SDR capability,” said Bodson in a statement. "Commissioner Dunn is a seasoned regulator who has demonstrated a significant understanding of how our business works to reduce risk and increase transparency, especially during the last few years of market volatility and industry change.”

DTCC’s executive chairman of the Board, Robert Druskin, said that “Commissioner Dunn’s deep experience in Washington, D.C. – in Congress, at the Department of Agriculture and at the CFTC – has given him a strong understanding of the legislative and regulatory needs for comprehensive data and tools to evaluate and mitigate risk in the global financial markets.”

In a statement, Dunn noted pending new requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act (DFA), which are designed to provide effective transparency into the credit, interest, equity, foreign exchange and commodities derivative markets, as important to his new position.

“My role is to add both a deeper regulatory insight into DTCC’s SDR development and its operational capabilities, so that the intent of the DFA and the needs of the financial markets are effectively met while retaining the use and availability of these critical financial tools.”

DTCC developed the first trade repository in the world for OTC credit derivatives, initially called the Trade Information Warehouse (TIW). TIW now houses trade information on more than 98% of all the OTC credit derivatives globally. DTCC then subsequently received industry approval, following a competitive process, to develop global trade repository services for equity, interest rate, commodity (with the European Federation of Energy Traders) and foreign exchange (with SWIFT) OTC markets.

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