Having avoided one lawsuit brought against it for new rules pertaining to the reporting of swaps data, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is now threatened by another, this time by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.

In a statement, DTCC announced that it had laid out its concerns in a new comment letter filed with the Commission late Tuesday. It complains of an “arbitrary and inconsistent rulemaking process” to determine the regulatory reporting structure for over-the-counter derivatives transactions and raises “serious questions about decision-making at the agency.”

At issue, is a Dodd-Frank Act requirement of the CFTC to designate Swap Data Repositories (SDRs) that collect and maintain swap transaction data, with the goal of providing greater transparency into the $650 trillion industry.  Initially, this year, all trade data related to credit and interest-rate swaps will be reported. Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) is among the entities granted an SDR designation thus far (along with DTCC and Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange), receiving that nod after filing a lawsuit, later dropped, against the CFTC in November. The crux of the suit was a reluctance to report its own swaps trading data to competitors that received the designation ahead of it.

CME, the world's largest futures exchange, has now proposed a rule with the CFTC that would allow it to require, as a condition for using its clearing services, that all customers have their cleared trades directed to its own SDR. Clients would have the choice of choosing another, supplemental repository.

The proposed rule would allow “inappropriate commercial bundling of [repository] and clearing services by CME and eliminate the ability of market participants to choose their preferred SDR,” the DTCC letter says. “This would undermine the intent of Dodd-Frank's provisions on fair and open access, market protection, trading transparency, risk mitigation and anti-competitive practices.” During a press conference, Larry Thompson, DTCC's general counsel, said they would resort to litigation, if necessary, to stop the rulemaking.

Citing “anti-competitive and cost-benefit ramifications” of the rule, DTCC urged the Commission to publicly address how it plans to consider third party comments and questions raised about the proposed rule and to extend the review period by 45 days.

Supporting its challenge, DTCC says, is a “diverse group of stakeholders” who have also expressed concern with the proposed rule change. Among them are the Edison Electric Institute, the Natural Gas Association, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

DTCC previously raised objections to the CFTC's swaps data rulemaking process in a Jan. 8 comment letter.