Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 2B— - SECURITIES EXCHANGES › § 78o–10
You cannot act as a security-based swap dealer or as a major security‑based swap participant unless you register with the Commission. To register you must file an application in the form the Commission requires and give the business information it asks for. Registered firms must keep giving reports, keep books and records, keep daily trading records and communications, and keep an audit trail, all in the form and for the time the Commission requires. The Commission must issue rules for registration and regulation within 1 year after July 21, 2010. Firms may not let people who are legally disqualified be involved in making security‑based swaps if the firm knew or should have known about the disqualification. The Commission will set many business and operational rules, but banking regulators set capital and margin rules for firms they supervise and the Commission sets them for other firms. Rules must cover things like fraud prevention, fair dealing, supervision, disclosures of risks and conflicts, documentation, confirmations, position monitoring, risk management, and limits on anticompetitive practices. Special protections apply when the counterparty is a government body, pension plan, endowment, or similar “special entity,” including duties if the dealer is an advisor and written disclosures before a trade. Each firm must name a chief compliance officer who reports to senior management, runs compliance programs, and files an annual certified compliance report. The Commission enforces most rules; prudential regulators enforce prudential requirements for firms they oversee. The agencies may ask each other to start enforcement and can censure, limit, revoke registrations, suspend or bar people, and it is illegal to associate with someone who is barred.
Full Legal Text
Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 78o–10
Title 15 — Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73