A Report from the Economic Research Service United States Department www.ers.usda.gov of Agriculture The Dodd-Frank Wall Street AIS-89 Reform and Consumer November 2010 Protection Act Changes to the Regulation of Derivatives and Their Impact on Agribusiness Michael K. Adjemian,
[email protected] Gerald E. Plato,
[email protected] Abstract The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act makes significant changes to Federal regulation of the U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets. Contents With the goals of improving market transparency and reducing systemic default risk, the act calls for swaps to be centrally cleared and traded on an exchange or execution Introduction ..........................2 facility and for dealers and major participants that trade these derivatives to be subject Derivatives Markets .............3 to collateral requirements. Although the act exempts certain types of swaps and traders Derivatives in U.S. from these clearing, collateral, and trading venue requirements in order to preserve Agriculture ........................7 market efficiency, all swaps will be subject to new recordkeeping and reporting rules. Important Dodd-Frank Reforms In this article, we review some important features of the new law and discuss their for Agribusiness ...............8 potential impact on agribusiness, much of which will depend on how the rules are Regulation of Swaps ........8 written and implemented by regulators. Clearing and Collateral Requirements ...............10 Keywords: financial reform law,